V 

| LIBRARY OF CONGRESS ,t 



w 



t UNITED STATES OP AMERICA.! 






ADVENTURES 



ON THE 



GREAT HUNTING GROUNDS 

OF THE WOKLD. 



By VICTOR METJNIER. 



JfllustrateU tott?) ®toentHfoo SSEootJCttts. 






NEW YORK: 
SCRIBNER, ARMSTRONG & CO., 

654 BROADWAY. 
1873. 

Wonograph, 



Qk-35 

.M5l 



The cbject which the Compiler has had in view in 
producing the following work, has been to present to 
the young reader a collection of well-authenticated 
facts, illustrative of the nature, habits, and various 
modes of capturing some of the largest and fiercest 
of the animal world, and to describe some of the 
numerous adventures, terrible fights, and hairbreadth 
escapes which the hunting of these animals has given 
rise to. For this purpose M. Victor Meunier has 
availed himself of the writings of a great variety of 
travellers of different countries, ancient as well as 
modern; and in thus bringing together their varied 
and often conflicting statements, he has endeavoured, 
without entering into minute scientific details, to bring 
them into harmony, or to arrive at the truth on dis- 
puted points. 

The Translator, notwithstanding the temptation 
w T hich an almost inexhaustible field presented to 
him of adding illustration and adventure, has con- 
fined himself, with one or two exceptions, to an 
almost literal translation of M. Victor Meunier' s com- 



IV 



pilation. To the chapters on Elephants he has 
appended a very interesting account of the Duke 
of Edinburgh's Elephant Hunt in South Africa. 
This account he has ventured to give, not only 
because it records the latest, but perhaps the only 
hunt of the kind in which a Eoyal prince of England 
has ever been engaged, at least in recent times, and 
not the less so on account of the real pluck and 
spirit, characteristic of his race, which the adventure 
called forth in him. 

In the chapter on Crocodiles an extract is also 
given from a work just published by Don Ramon 
Paez, entitled, •' Travels and Adventures in South 
and Central America," which will not be found in 
the original French work. 

E. M. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAOB 

The Gorilla : — 1. Stories of Travellers. — 2. Stories of tlie negroes. 
— 3. On the Hunting Ground — More Hunting Stories. — 4. Baby 
Gorillas— Capture of Young Male — His escape — Young Female 
taken — Man severely bitten 1-35 

CHAPTER II. 
"Bears : — 1. Grizzly Bears — William Cannon pursued — Kept in a 
Tree all Night by a Grizzly — John Day's attack — Fight in a Pit 
with a Grizzly. — 2. The Brown Bear — Mode of Hunting by Russian 
Peasants — Horses frightened by Bear-skins. — 3. The "White Bear — 
Sailor seized and killed — The Bear attacked — Another sailor 
seized and torn to pieces — The Bear killed — Another Story . 36-51 

CHAPTER III. 
The Tiger : — The Plaintive Sigh. — 2. A Tigress seizes a Hunter 
from an Elephant's Back ; carries him into the Jungle — The Tigress 
shot by the Hunter whilst almost Bead in her Jaws — Another 
Hunt of a Tigress with Elephants — A Tiger in the Fair at Hurdwar. 
— 4. Another Hunt — An Indian torn to pieces — Tiger cubs — 
Another Tiger shot 52-66 

CHAPTER IV. 
The Lion : — 1. The Lion of South Africa. — 2. Lions round the 
Camp Fires — A Heifer carried off. — 3. Bands of Lions hunting 
together — Three Lions leaped on a Buffalo — Buffalo carried off by a 
Lion — The young Lion's respect for an older one — The Lion and 
the Zebra. — 4. Br. Livingstone attacked by a Lion. — 5. A Lion 
keeping Guard over a Man for Two Nights and Three Days — A 
Hottentot's manoeuvre — A "Widow killed — Two Kaminouquois 
frightfully mangled. — 6. A family of Lions attacked . . 67-99 



VI CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER V. 

PAGB 

The Mufflon : — Its habits — Various modes of Hunting . . 100-104 

CHAPTER VI. 

The Musk Ox: — Description of mode of Hunting — Ross attacked 
by a Musk Ox — Gluttony of the Esquimaux . . . 105-108 

CHAPTER VII. 

The Giraffe : — Le Vaillant's first Giraffe — A Hunt — Eight with 
Dogs — Eaten by Natives — Skinning — Preparation of Skin for pre- 
serving — A Lion's fatal leap and Giraffe's escape . . . 109-117 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Tapirs :— Easily tamed— Familiarity of — Mode of Hunting — A Swim 
for Life— Fight with Dogs— Anecdotes .... 118-125 

CHAPTER IX. 

The Hippopotamus :— 1. An unsuccessful Hunt. — 2. A Native Cut 
in Two.— 3. Mode of living.— 4. A Calf captured. — 5. A Fight 
between two Hippopotami.— 6. Mr. Moffat in clanger— A Boat upset 
— A Man dragged from a Boat. — 7. Hunt with Hook and Float 
— Du Chaillu shooting Hippopotami — Le Vaillant's attack on a 
troop 126-142 

CHAPTER X. 

The Rhinoceros : — A Traitor and Aggressor — Mr. Oswell on horse- 
back Tossed in the Air — Various modes of Hunting — Le Vaillant's 
attack on a Male and Female — The Female killed . . . 143-152 

CHAPTER XI. 

The Elephant :— 1. The White Elephant an object of veneration- 
Hunting in India. — 2, Fifteen individuals killed by a solitary — 
Courier crushed — Two Woodmen killed. — 3. A Herd of about 
Seventy surrounding Camp Fires. — 4. Method of taking in 
India. — 5. Used as domestics by the Siamese — Intelligence of 
Elephant firing Howitzers at Lucknow. — 6. Killing Elerhants — 
Anecdote 153-170 



CONTENTS. Vll 

CHAPTER XII. 

Elephants (continued):— 7. Hunting in Nubia. — 8. Captain Speke 
in the Oungoro. — 9. Le Vaillant and Du Chaillu fallen into Pits — 
Mode of killing in the Zambesi. — 10. Livingstone's description of 
mode of attack. — 11. Claas Volk killed — Cobus Klopper killed — 
Krieger thrown into the Air and trampled to Death. — 12. Coox^er 
Rgse — Journey and Hunt with a veteran Hunter . . . 171-190 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Elephants (continued) : — The DuKe of Edinburgh's Hunt at the 
Knysna 191-204 

CHAPTER XIV. 
The Ostrich : — 1. Description of. — 2. Fables and absurdities re- 
specting— 3. Want of Sense of Taste — Copper Candlestick swallowed. 
4. Habits. — 5. Anecdotes— Extraordinary Speed. — 6. Strength 
of. — 7. Reputed want of Intelligence— Attack on a Horseman by a 
Male — Excessive timidity— Sociability .... 205-223 

CHAPTER XV. 
The Ostrich (continued) : — 8. The period of laying — Violent 
character of the Male during Incubation. — 9. The two Sexes Build 
the Ne.-;t — Capturing a Female. — 10. Ostrich Hunts — Various 
methods— Anecdotes 224-236 

CHAPTER XVI. 
Crocodiles and Caymans : — 1. The Scene and the Actors. — 2. Their 
dwellings. — 3. Habits — Dr. Livingstone attacked — Picking the 
Crocodile's Teeth by a Plover — A Fight with Caricaris —Fight 
with a Jaguar . 237-256 

CHAPTER XVII. 
Crocodiles (continued): — 4. The question as to their Ferocity — 
Anecdotes — Fights and Adventures.— 5. Cn taming Crocodiles. — 
6. Differences of Opinions reconciled — Anecdotes. — 7. Anecdotes 
—Methods of Taking, &c 257-297 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



NO. 
1. 

2. 
3. 
4. 

5. 

6. 



10. 
11. 

12. 
13. 
14. 
15. 
16. 
17. 
18. 
19. 
20. 

21. 
22. 



"The Animal gave him a tremendous Blow" . 

Hunters followed by a Bear 

"The Fin walks straight up to the Encounter" . 
"He hit the Bear a little above the Eye" . 

"r despatched her with a ball behind the ear 

"He could not fire, for the Man and the Tiger were 

so entangled" 

The Lion of South Africa ..... 
" They heard him breaking the Bones of the Animal " 
"He stretched out his Hand to seize his Gun" . 

"An old Male keeps sentry" 

"He owed his Safety to a large Fragment of Rock" 

The Giraffe 

"If he can reach Deep Water, he plunges in" 
" On the Rives Bank the Mother showed herself m 
"The Hunter was tossed in the Air" . 
"He tore away the upper part of his Body" 
"The old Male stumbled, and fell on his Knees" 

Herd of Elephants 

"The Duke discharged both Barrels in quick succession' 
"The Ostrich then turned its blows against Si-MohaM' 

MED " 

Crocodiles on the Mud-banks of the Guayaquil 
Fight between the Cayman and the Jaguar . . 



PAQB 

24 



43- 

48 
57 

61 

67 

69 

83' 
100^ 
107 
109 
121 
131 
144 
156 
169 
188 
201 

219 
238 
245 



/ 



CHAPTER 1. 

I. — Stories op Travellers. 

For three centuries the rumour has been current that 
there existed on the western coast of Africa, north and 
south of the equator, an ape of immense strength and 
gigantic size, — of all animals the largest and most 
formidable — the king of the African forests. 

Let us see what travellers say concerning this 
animal. 

At the beginning of the seventeenth century Andrew 
Battel, who had been for a long time a prisoner of the 
Portuguese in Angola, described, under the name of 
Pongo, an ape resembling a man in all his proportions, 
but as large as a giant, and so strong that ten men 
were not sufficient to subdue one of them. 

"He has a human face," said Battel, "with sunken 
eyes, long hair on the sides of his head, his face naked, 
as well as his ears and his hands; his body rather 
shaggy; his hair of dark brown. He diners from 

B 



2 THE G0BILLA. 

man in outward appearance chiefly in haying little ot 
no calves to his legs. Nevertheless, he walks upright, 
holding his hands clasped behind his neck He sleeps 
in trees, and constructs for himself a shelter against 
the sun and rain ; he lives on fruits ; he cannot talk, 
although he has a better understanding than other 
animals. When travellers abandon, in the morning, 
the fire which they have kept during the night, the 
pongoes come and sit around it until it becomes extinct, 
but they have not sufficient intelligence to gather wood 
to keep it alive. They go in companies , they kill the 
negroes they encounter ; they will even attack an ele- 
phant, and put him to flight by blows with their fists 
or with sticks." 

Bosman, another traveller in Guinea, has spoken 
of the same ape. " They grow extremely large," he 
wrote ; "I have seen one with my own eyes which was 
five feet high ; they have a very ugly figure, are very 
wicked, very bold, and sufficiently daring to attack 
men. Some negroes assure us that these apes 
can talk, and that if they don't do so, it is 
because they don't wish to give themselves the 
trouble. It would perhaps be better to say that they 
are capable of understanding all one would wish to 
teach them." 

M. de la Brosse, in a journey on the coast of 
Angola, published in 1738, says that they attain the 



STOKIES OF TKAVELLERS. 3 

height of six and seven feet, that their strength is 
without equal, that they live in huts, and use cluhs to 
defend themselves. He thus describes them : — 

"Face dull, nose snubbed and flat, ears without 
cushions, skin a little lighter than that of a mulatto, 
hair long and thin on many parts of the body, stomach 
extremely tight, the heels flat, and elevated about half 
an inch at the back, They walk on two feet, and on 
all-fours when they have the fancy to do so." M. de 
la Brosse adds that they endeavour to carry off the 
negresses, keep them with them, and treat them very 
welL "I have known at Lowango a negress who had 
been three years with these animals. " 

Finally, Mr. Bowditch, in his "Narrative of a Mis- 
sion from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee" (London, 
1819), writes:— 

" The favourite and most curious subject of our con- 
versation on natural history was the Ingena, an animal 
like the orang-outang, but of a much greater size, being 
five feet in height and four feet across the shoulders. 
Its paw was said to be still more disproportionate, and 
one blow of it would cause death. Travellers who go 
to Kaybe frequently encounter him. He lies in ambush 
to kill passers-by, and he principally feeds on 
wild honey. A.mong other traits which characterize 
this animal, and on which all persons agree, it is 
reported that he builds for himself a hut, in rudo 

B 2 



4 THE GORILLA. 

imitation of that of the natives, and that he sleeps 
outside on the roof of this dwelling. 

It is needless to say that Africa does not contain an 
ape which bears resemblance to man in all his pro- 
portions, and which differs from him exteriorly only 
in the small protuberance of his calves, and who does 
not talk simply because he does not wish to give 
himself the trouble. " I regret," says an author, from 
whom presently we shall frequently borrow, — " I regret 
to be obliged to destroy agreeable illusions ; but the 
gorilla does not lie in ambush behind trees to seize 
with his claws the defenceless traveller. He does not 
strangle him between his feet as in a vice ; he does not 
carry away women from their villages ; he does not build 
for himself a hut of branches in the forests ; he does 
not march in troops, and in all that has been said of his 
attacks en masse, there is not the shadow of truth." 

The reports of travellers were then imbued with 
exaggerations and errors ; but beyond what was erro- 
neous and improbable, these accounts agree in attesting 
the existence of an ape distinct from the chimpanzee, 
larger, stronger, and more dangerous than this latter, 
and of that there was no reason to doubt. 

Attention was then aroused to the subject. It was 
in 1846 that all doubts ceased. 

It happened that at that period an American mis- 
sionary, the Eev. Dr. J. Leighton Wilson, discovered at 



STORIES OF TRAVELLERS. 5 

the Gaboon the skull of a new and extraordinary kind 
of ape. A narrow cranial cavity, almost wholly behind 
the orbits of the eyes, and where the cerebral convolu- 
tions had left but feeble impression ; jaw-bones of pro- 
digious power, projecting in front, and armed with 
formidable and deeply rooted tusks ; at the extremities 
of the eyebrows, on the line of the parietal bones, and 
at the junction of these with the occipital, were 
enormous bony ridges ; finally, very large and arched 
cheek-bones : in a word, all the characters of bestiality 
carried to excess and united to those of strength without 
equal among apes : such was this skull, which could 
only have belonged to the Ingena of Bowditch, to the 
Pongo of Battel. A learned American naturalist, Pro- 
fessor Jeffries Wyman, gave a description of it in 1847 
in the " Journal of Natural History of Boston." The 
discovery of Mr. Wilson did not long remain isolated, 
and the anatomy of the new quadrumane, to which 
Wilson had given the name of Gorilla, became the 
object of the labours of Bichard Owen in England, of 
Isidore Geoffroy Saint Hilaire and of Duvernoy in 
France. The interest still increased when the first 
white man who had seen a living gorilla face to 
face had made known his marvellous stories of the 
chase. 

This white man is an American of French origin, 
M. Paul du Chailhi. 



6 THE GORILLA. 

He embarked, in the month of October, 1855, for the 
western coast of Africa. His intention was to devote 
some years to the exploration of the region comprised 
between two degrees North and two degrees South lati- 
tude over the whole space which extends from the coast 
to the chain of mountains called the Sierra del Crystal. 
This country is the domain of the gorilla. Many 
times, during a former excursion in Africa, our traveller 
had heard of this animal, of his terrible roar, his pro- 
digious strength, and great courage. To reach the 
gorilla in his haunts, to kill him, and so to enrich 
science, was one of the objects which M. du Chaillu 
had in view. We are going to see him at the work. 

But whilst he is seeking this extraordinary being, 
let us listen to the stories told by the negroes whilst 
sitting round their camp fires, as reported by the 
American author. 



II. — Stories op the Negroes. 

" My father," said one, " used to relate, that being one 
day in the forest, he suddenly found himself face to 
face with a great gorilla, which barred the way. My 
father held his lance in his hand; at sight of this 
weapon the gorilla began to roar. Then my father, 
frightened, let fall his lance. When the gorilla saw 



STORIES OF THE NEGROES. 7 

that he was disarmed, he seemed satisfied ; he looked 
at him for an instant, and then left him and returned 
into the depths of the forest. My father, on his side, 
was well content, and pursued his journey." 

And the auditors cried with one voice, "Yes, yes, 
that's it; when you meet a gorilla, let fall your 
lance, and you will appease him ! " 

" Some dry seasons since," said another, "a man, 
after a violent quarrel, disappeared from my village. A 
short time afterwards an Ashira, going into the forest, 
met there a very large gorilla. This gorilla was the 
man himself who had disappeared. He leapt on the 
poor Ashira, hit a piece of flesh from his arm, and 
then allowed him to go. The unfortunate man re- 
turned with his arm all Weeding, and told me of his 
adventure. I hope we shall not encounter any of these 
man-gorillas, for they are very wicked heings, and we 
shall have a terrible time of it. " 

The chorus replied, " No, no, we shall not meet with 
these wicked gorillas ! " 

u They believe, in fact," says the author already 
quoted, "that there are some gorillas of a particular 
kind which serve as the habitation of the spirits of 
certain dead negroes. The initiated recognize them by 
mysterious signs, and, above all, by their extraordinary 
stature. These gorillas, according to the Indians, can 
never be taken or killed ; they have also more sagacity 



8 THE GORILLA. 

and reason than the common animals. In these pos- 
sessed beasts the intelligence of man is united with 
the strength and ferocity of the animal. 

" Some years ago a man disappeared, carried off 
probably by a tiger. It was said, and believed, that 
one day, whilst he was walking in the woods, he had 
been metamorphosed into a hideous gorilla, which the 
blacks had often pursued without being able to kill, 
although he continually haunted the outskirts of the 
village." 

Here is another story : — 

Some natives encountered, in a field of sugar-canes, 
a troop of gorillas tying up the canes in bundles to carry 
them away. They attacked them, but the apes put 
them to flight, and they lost many men, some killed, 
others prisoners. A few days after, the latter returned 
home with their finger and toe-nails torn off. 

Two Mbon demos women were walking in a forest, 
when suddenly an enormous gorilla bestrode the path, 
and seizing one of the women, carried her off, in spite 
of her efforts and her cries. The other, trembling with 
terror, returned to the village and related the adventure. 

Naturally, her companion was held as lost. What 
was the general surprise when, at the end of a few 
days, she returned home ! 

"It was a gorilla possessed by a spirit," cried one 
of the hearers. 



STORIES OF THE NEGROES. \) 

A gorilla was walking in the forest, when he met 
a leopard. Both stood still. The quadruped, which 
was hungry, drew himself up to make a spring at 
the throat of his enemy, who immediately commenced 
a fearful howling. Without allowing himself to he 
intimidated, the leopard took his leap ; as ill luck 
would have it, he was caught in the air hy the gorilla, 
who seized him hy the tail, and twisted it round and 
round with such force that it came off, and the animal 
fled, leaving his appendage in the hands of the gorilla. 

Returned to his comrades, the quadruped had to 
reply to their questions. 

"What has happened?" they asked him. It was 
necessary to tell the whole story, at which news the 
king of the leopards howled so long and so strong, that 
from all points of the forest his subjects came together. 
Hardly had they learnt the injury done to their brother, 
than they swore to revenge it, and at once they entered 
the field in pursuit of the gorilla. 

Their search did not last long. As soon as the great 
ape saw them approach, he tore up a tree, and using it 
as a club, he whirled it round with an air so menacing, 
that he held in abeyance the army of his assailants; 
but at last he grew tired, seeing which, the leopards 
rushed upon him altogether, and strangled him. 

One day, another gorilla was walking out in the 
forest with his wife and little boy, when he found 



10 THE GORILLA. 

himself suddenly vis-a-vis with an immense elephant, 
who said to him, — 

"Let me pass, gorilla, for these forests helong to 
me." 

"Oh, oh!" said the gorilla, "how do these forests 
helong to thee ? Am I not the master here ? Am I 
not the man of the woods?" So saying, he ordered 
his wife and his little hoy to stand aside. He then 
broke off a large branch of a tree, and arming him- 
self with it, he so belaboured the elephant that he was 
killed by his blows, and some days afterwards the car- 
case of the elephant was found on the ground, and the 
club lying beside him. 

One fact believed by all the tribes who know a little 
of the gorilla is, that this animal conceals himself on 
the lower branches of trees, and that when any one 
passes his ambuscade, he seizes the unhappy wretch 
with his large and powerful hands, lifts him into the 
tree, and quietly chokes him. 

They are quite persuaded that if a woman about to 
become a mother, or if only the husband of the woman 
should see a gorilla, or even a dead gorilla, the woman 
will give birth not to an infant, but to a little gorilla ! 
"I have remarked this superstition," says M. du 
Chaillu, " amongst all the tribes, and only a projjos 
of the gorilla." 

But this superstition does not prevent them from 



ON THE HUNTING GROUND. 11 

eating the gorilla. They carefully set apart the brains 
to make magic charms. " If we kill a gorilla to- 
morrow," said a black, " I should like to have a part 
of his brains for fetiche." Nothing can render a man 
more intrepid than having a gorilla's brains for fetiche. 
" Yes," repeated the other, " that gives heart for every 
danger." 



III. — On the Hunting Ground. 

Accompanied by men and women of the tribe of Mbon- 
demos, M. du Chaillu, ascending the second range of 
the Sierra del Crystal, at length came upon an open 
space of ground, not far from the sources of the 
Ntambonny, where once had been established a Mbon- 
demo village. A degenerate kind of sugar-cane was 
growing where the houses had once stood. Tormented 
by hunger, the traveller had hastened to gather some of 
the stalks, but his men drew his attention to a cir- 
cumstance which gave quite a new turn to his ideas. 
Here and there the cane was beaten down, torn up by 
the roots, and lying about in fragments, which had 
evidently been chewed. The Mbondemos looked at 
each other in silence, and muttered, " Njenaf " that 
is to say, " Gorilla." 

They were, in fact, traces of gorillas, and traces, 
too, quite fresh. They soon found the tracks of their 



12 THE GORILLA. 

feet, and there must have been four or five in the 
company. From time to time they had sat down to 
masticate the canes. 

" It was the first time I had ever seen these foot- 
prints," writes M. du Chaillu, "and my sensations 
were indescribable. Here was I, now, it seemed, on 
the point of meeting face to face that monster of whose 
ferocity, strength, and cunning the natives had told me 
so much ; an animal scarce known to the civilized world, 
and which no white man before had hunted. My heart 
beat till I feared its loud pulsations would alarm the 
gorilla, and my feelings were really excited to a painful 
degree. 

" The women were terrified, poor things, and we left 
them a good escort of two or three men to take care of 
them and reassure them. Then the rest of us looked 
once more carefully at our guns, and the hunt began. 

"We descended a hill, crossed a stream on a fallen 
log, and presently approached some huge boulders 
of granite. Alongside of this granite block lay an 
immense dead tree, and about this we saw many evi- 
dences of the very recent presence of the gorillas. 

"Doubtless they were hiding behind these granite 
blocks, which it was necessary to surround. The 
hunters divided into two parties, one taking the right, 
the other the left, with guns cocked and in hand. The 
excitement of the blacks was even greater than that of 



ON THE HUNTING GROUND. 13 

their master. They advanced through the brushwood, 
which was dense and sombre, though it was broad day. 
Unfortunately, the circle had been too much enlarged. 
The watchful gorillas saw the hunters. Suddenly a 
strange discordant, half-human devilish cry arose, and 
they beheld four young gorillas running towards the 
deep forests. With their heads bent down, and their 
bodies stooping, they gave the idea of men who were 
flying for their lives. They resembled to a frightful 
degree hairy men. 

" I protest," continues M. du Chaillu, " I felt almost 
like a murderer when I saw the gorillas this first time. 
Take with this their awful cry, which, fierce and ani- 
mal as it is, has yet something human in its discor- 
dance, and you will cease to wonder that the natives 
have the wildest superstitions about these wild men of 
the ivoods. They all fired at once, but hit nothing ; 
then the hunters rushed on in pursuit : they ran until 
they were exhausted, but in vain. The alert beasts 
knew the woods better than their enemies, and so made 
good their escape." 

So far, then, it was a failure ; but at least M. du 
Chaillu could boast of having seen living gorillas, 
and he lost no time in endeavouring to see them again, 
and more closely. 

Some days after this fruitless hunt, the intrepid tra- 
veller and his friends the Mbondemos, starting early in 



14 THE GOKILLA. 

the morning, explored for many hours the thickets and 
least approachable parts of the forest, but without find- 
ing the faintest trace of a gorilla, when suddenly one 
of the men uttered a little " check " with his tongue, 
which is the native's way of showing that something is 
stirring, and at the same time M. du Chaillu thought 
he heard — seemingly ahead of him — the noise as of 
some one breaking down the branches or twigs of trees. 
" This was the gorilla, I knew at once, by the eager 
and satisfied looks of the men. 

" They looked once more carefully at their guns, to 
see if by any chance the powder had fallen out of the 
pans ; I also examined mine, to make sure that all was 
right ; and then we marched on cautiously. The sin- 
gular noise of the breaking of tree branches continued ; 
we walked with the greatest care, making no noise at 
all. The countenances of the men showed that they 
thought themselves engaged in a very serious under- 
taking ; but we pushed on, until finally we thought 
we saw through the thick woods the moving of the 
branches and small trees, which the great beast was 
tearing down, probably to get from them the berries 
and fruits he lives on. 

" Suddenly, as we were yet creeping along, in a 
silence which made a heavy breath seem loud and 
distinct, the woods were at once filled with the tremen- 
dous barking roar of the gorilla. 



ON THE HUNTING GROUND. 15 

'-'•Then the underbrush swayed rapidly just ahead, and 
presently before us stood an immense male gorilla. He 
had gone through the jungle on all-fours, but when he 
saw our party he erected himself and looked us boldly 
in the face. He stood about a dozen yards from us, and 
was a sight I think I shall never forget. Nearly six 
feet high (he proved four inches shorter), with immense 
body, huge chest, and great muscular arms, with 
fiercely glaring large deep grey eyes, and a hellish 
expression of face, which seemed to me like some 
nightmare vision. Thus stood before us the king of 
the African forests. 

" He was not afraid of us ; he stood there and beat 
his breast with his huge fists till it resounded like an 
immense drum (its usual mode of offering defiance), 
meantime giving vent to roar after roar. 

" The roar of the gorilla is the most singular and 
awful noise heard in these African woods. It begins 
with a sharp bark, like an angry dog, then glides into a 
deep bass roll, which literally and closely resembles the 
roll of distant thunder along the sky, for which I have 
sometimes been tempted to take it when I did not see 
the animal. So deep is it, that it seems to proceed 
less from the mouth and throat than from the deep 
chest and vast paunch. 

"His eyes began to flash fiercer fire as we stood 
motionless on the defensive, and the crest of short hair 



16 THE GORILLA. 

which stands on his forehead began to twitch rapidly 
up and down, while his powerful fangs were shown as 
he sent forth a thunderous roar; and now truly he 
reminded me of nothing but some hellish dream-crea- 
ture, a being of that hideous order — half man, half 
beast, which we find pictured by old artists in some 
representations of the infernal regions. He advanced 
a few steps, then stopped to utter that hideous roar 
again ; advanced again, and finally stopped when at a 
distance of about six yards from us ; and here, just as 
he began another of his roars, beating his breast in 
rage, we fired and killed him. 

"With a groan, which had something terribly human 
in it, and yet was full of brutishness, he fell forward 
on his face. The body shook convulsively for a few 
minutes, the limbs moved about in a struggling way, 
then all was quiet." 

The body measured five feet eight inches high. 

Another day, when out hunting, M. du Chaillu heard 
a loud rumbling noise, which he took for thunder. 
Foreseeing a storm, he hastened to seek shelter under 
some ebony bushes, but he soon perceived that this 
supposed rolling of thunder was nothing else than the 
voice of a male gorilla calling the female, who an in- 
stant afterwards replied by a more feeble roar. The 
echo of this terrible voice resounded from mountain to 
mountain, and the forest seemed to tremble. 



ON THE HUNTING GROUND. 17 

Our traveller immediately slipped a ball into his 
gun, already loaded with bird-shot, and walked in tho 
direction of the cry. 

From time to time the rumbling sound, which the 
male makes in striking his breast with his large fists, 
approached him. 

He soon heard the cracking of branches, and he saw 
through the thicket a young tree rudely shaken, and in 
a few seconds fall to the ground. But perhaps the 
animal was conscious of danger, for a profound silence 
succeeded the roaring, and when M. du Chaillu had 
opened a passage into the thicket, the gorilla had 
disappeared. 

" I am certain," writes he, " that I heard his roar 
at a distance of three miles, and the drumming of his 
arms against his breast at a mile at least. No words 
can describe the kind of thunder which it produces. 

" On examining the wood where these gorillas were 
moving and feeding, I learnt for the first time why the 
canine teeth of this animal, especially of the male, are 
generally so worn, and I found at the same time aston- 
ishing proofs of his strength. Many trees, measuring 
from four to six inches in diameter, had been broken, 
and bore the marks of the biting of the gorillas, whose 
teeth had penetrated to the heart of the tree, in order 
to extract the pith. It was a hard wood, and I saw 
well, by the manner in which it had been gnawed, that 

G 



18 THE GORILLA. 

it was quite needless to attribute to any other cause the 
singular deterioration which I had remarked in the 
exterior of the canine teeth of these animals." 

Some days after this fruitless encounter, the natives 
reported to Du Chaillu that a very large gorilla had 
been seen many times in the forest ten miles to the 
east. The traveller, who was just then in search of 
such a subject for his collection, at once resolved to go 
and look after this fellow. 

Accompanied by a negro named Gambo, he hunted 
for many hours, when at length, in a thicket at the 
bottom of an obscure ravine, he suddenly found him- 
self face to face with two gorillas — male and female. 
These had already perceived them : the female uttered 
a cry of alarm and fled through the woods. As to the 
male, which was just the one which M. du Chaillu 
wanted, he showed no intention to fly. He rose slowly, 
and facing the disturbers of his retreat, he uttered a 
roar of rage. The hunters stood side by side awaiting 
the attack of the monster. Imperfectly seen in the 
dim half-light of the ravine, his hideous features 
working with rage, his eyes shining with a sombre fire, 
his satyr-like face violently contracted, he was alto- 
gether frightful. 

lie advanced by jerks, as is the custom of these 
animals, and halting from time to time to beat his fists 
on his vast breast, which emitted a dull hollow sound, 



ON THE HUNTING GROUND. 19 

like that of a great bass drum covered with ox-hide ; 
then he gave a short bark, followed by that formidable 
roar which we have already heard of. 

The two men stood firm at their post for three long 
minutes, waiting until the gigantic animal should be 
sufficiently near. Arrived within a distance of about six 
yards, the monster raised his head, roared again, and 
beat his breast. He was on the point of moving for- 
ward again, when two balls, fired at the same moment, 
staggered him, and he fell at full length on his face, 
dead. 

u I saw at once that we had the very animal I 
wanted. It is the oldest of all my collection, and very 
nearly the largest I ever saw. Gambo, who though a 
young man was still an old hunter, said a few were 
larger, but not many. Its height was five feet nine 
inches, measured to the tip of the toes. Its arms 
spread nine feet. Its chest had a circumference of 
sixty- two inches. The hands — those terrible claw-like 
weapons, with one blow of which he tears out the 
bowels of a man, or breaks his arms — were of 
immense muscular power, and bent like veritable claws. 
I could see how frightful a blow could be struck with 
such a hand, moved by such an arm, all swollen into 
great bunches of muscular fibre, as this animal pos- 
sessed. The big toe was no less than six inches in 
circumference." 

c 2 



20 the gorilla. 

More Hunting Stories. 

One morning, after a terrible night, during which an 
awful storm had extinguished the camp fire and left the 
travellers most uncomfortable, the roar of a gorilla was 
heard, which revived the drooping spirits of M. du 
Chaillu. He swallowed a cup of coffee and a biscuit — 
nothing more, for provisions were scarce — and set out. 

" We had not far to go," he writes. " We had 
walked barely a quarter of a mile when we heard the 
loud roar again ; this time quite near. We stood quite 
still for fear of alarming the beast, which was evidently 
approaching us, as we could see the bushes bent 
towards us. The fear of alarming him, however, 
proved needless. When he saw us he at once struck 
aside the intervening bushes, rose to an erect position, 
made a few steps, stopped, and seated himself; then, 
beating his vast breast, which resounded like an old 
drum, he advanced straight upon us. His dark eyes 
flashed with rage, his features worked convulsively, and 
at every few paces he stopped, and, opening his cavern- 
ous mouth, gave vent to his thunderous roar, which 
the forest gave back with multiplied echoes. 

" He was evidently not a bit alarmed, and was quite 
ready for a fight. We stood perfectly still. He advanced 
till he stood beating his breast within six yards of us, 
when I thought it time to put an end to the scene. 



MORE HUNTING STORIES. 21 

My shot hit liim in the breast, and he fell forward on 
his face, dead. They die very easily, and have none of 
that tenacity of life which most savage animals have. 
In this they also resemble man. It proved to be a 
middle-aged male, a fine specimen." 

Still another encounter, and another victory. The 
animal had announced his presence by roaring. They 
thought he was close at hand, but he proved farther 
off than they imagined. They wandered nearly three- 
quarters of an hour through the forest before they 
reached him. As soon as he perceived the men he 
came resolutely towards them, uttering a succession of 
the short bark-like yells which denote his rage. 

" His manner of approach gave me once more an 
opportunity to see with how much difficulty he supports 
himself in the erect posture. His short and slender 
legs are not able firmly to sustain the large body. 
They totter beneath the weight, and the walk is a sort 
of waddle, in which the long arms are used, in a clumsy 
way, to balance the body and keep up the ill-sustained 
equilibrium. Twice he sat down to roar, evidently not 
trusting himself to this exertion while standing. 

" My gun was fresh loaded, and could be depended 
upon, so I stood in advance. I waited, as the negro 
rule is, till the huge beast was within six yards of me ; 
then, as he once more stopped to roar, delivered my 
fire, and brought -him down on his face, dead. 



22 THE GORILLA. 

" It proved to be a male, full grown, but young. 
His huge canine tusks, his claw-like hands, the 
immense development of muscle on his arms and 
breast, — his whole appearance, in fact, proclaimed a 
giant strength. There is enough likeness to humanity 
in this beast to make a dead one an awful sight, even 
to accustomed eyes, as mine were by this time. I 
never quite felt that matter-of-course indifference, or 
that sensation of triumph which the hunter has when 
a good shot has brought him a head of his choice 
game. It was as though I had killed some monstrous 
creation, which yet had something of humanity in it. 
Well as I knew that this was an error, I could not 
help the feeling. 

" This animal was five feet eight inches high. In 
the evening, Minsho brought in a young female he had 
shot, which measured three feet eight inches. All the 
hunts had not this happy issue. On one occasion, when 
M. du Chaillu was beating the woods at the head of a 
little troop, one of his bold companions had the im- 
prudence to advance alone from the side where he ex- 
pected to encounter a gorilla. For nearly an hour they 
had lost sight of him, when they heard a shot fired in 
the distance — then a second. They ran in the direction 
of the shot, hoping to find a dead gorilla, when sud- 
denly the forest resounded with more terrible roars. 

" Gambo seized my arms in great agitation, and wa 



MORE HUNTING STORIES. 23 

hurried on, both filled with a dreadful and sickening 
alarm. "We had not gone far when our worst fears 
were realized. The poor brave fellow who had gone 
off alone, was lying on the ground in a pool of his 
own blood, and I thought, at first, quite dead. His 
bowels were protruding through the lacerated abdomen. 
Beside him lay his gun, f e stock was broken, and the 
barrel was bent and flattened. It bore plainly the 
marks of the gorilla's teeth. 

"We picked him up, and I dressed his wounds as 
well as I could with rags torn from my clothes. "When 
I had given him a little brandy to drink, he came to 
himself, and was able, but with great difficulty, to 
speak. He said that he had met the gorilla suddenly 
face to face, and that it had not attempted to escape. 
' It was,' he said, ' a huge male, and seemed very 
savage.' It was in a very gloomy part of the wood, 
and the darkness, I suppose, made him miss. He 
said he took good aim, and fired when the beast was 
only about eight yards off. The ball merely wounded 
it in the side. It at once began beating its breast, 
and with the greatest rage advanced upon him. 

" To run away was impossible. He would have been 
caught in the jungle before he had gone a dozen 
steps. 

" He stood his ground, and as quickly as he could 
reloaded his gun. Just as he raised it to fire, the 



24 THE GORILLA. 

gorilla dashed it out of his hands, the gun going off in 
the fall; and then in an instant, and with a terrible 
roar, the animal gave him a tremendous blow with its 
immense paw, frightfully lacerating the abdomen, and 
with this single blow laying bare part of the intestines. 
As he sank bleeding to the ground, the monster seized 
the gun, and the poor hunter thought he would have 
his brains dashed out with it ; but the gorilla seemed 
to have looked upon this also as an enemy, and in his 
rage almost flattened the barrel between his strong 
jaws, 

" "When we came upon the ground, the gorilla was 
gone. This is their mode when attacked — to strike 
one or two blows, and then leave the victims of their 
rage on the ground, and go off into the woods. 

" We hunted up our companions and carried our poor 
fellow to the camp, where all was instantly excitement; 
and sorrow. * * * He had to tell the whole story over 
again ; and the people declared at once that this was 
no true gorilla that had attacked him, but a man — a 
wicked man turned into a gorilla. Such a being no 
man could escape, they said ; and it could not be killed 
even by the bravest hunters." 

He was killed, nevertheless, the following day ; but 
his victim succumbed some hours afterwards. 




the AMiuL aim niu a tremkndocs blow." \Paye 24. 



BABY GORILLAS. 25 



IV. — Baby Gorillas. 

M. dtt Chaillu, who had killed so many adult 
gorillas, had never taken one alive, and he thought 
it impossible that he ever should do so; but for the 
young it was a different matter, although the thing 
presented some difficulties. 

Some hunters whom our traveller had taken into his 
service had gone out to beat the wood on his account. 
There were five of them, and as they were going noise- 
lessly through the forest they heard the cry of a little 
gorilla calling his mother. It was about noon, and a 
profound silence reigned around. The cry was heard 
a second time, and the men, knowing what joy the 
capture of a young gorilla would cause their master, 
resolved to go over to the side from whence the sound 
proceeded. With their guns cocked they crept into the 
thicket, where they soon found certain signs that the 
mother was not far off ; there was also the same ground 
for supposing that the male was in the neighbourhood ; 
nevertheless, the brave fellows did not hesitate. In a 
dead silence, and scarce breathing, they crawled on. At 
a few yards in advance of them the bushes were shaken, 
and soon they perceived a young gorilla, seated on 
the ground eating some berries, and at a short distance 
sat his mother, occupied in the same way. Just as 



{ ZQ THE GORILLA. 

they were raising their guns to fire, she perceived them. 
The shots struck her, and she fell mortally wounded. 

At the noise of the discharge, the little gorilla threw 
himself on his mother, clasped her with his arms, and 
hid himself in her bosom. But the triumphant cries 
of the hunters recalled him to himself, and he left 
the body of his mother, rushed up a tree, and scram- 
bled nearly to the top, where he sat howling at them 
savagely. 

The blacks were much embarrassed, being unwilling 
either to shoot him or to expose themselves to his bites. 
At last they agreed to cut down the tree ; and profiting 
by the surprise of the little monster when he fell, they 
threw a sack over his head, which, however, did not 
prevent his giving one of them a fearful bite on the 
hand, and another had a piece taken out of his leg. 

As this little beast, although very small, and the 
merest baby for age, was astonishingly strong, and as 
nothing would assuage his fury, they scarcely knew how 
to carry him. They finished by fixing his neck in a 
forked stick in such a way as to keep him at a safe 
distance, at the same time preventing his escape ; and 
in this fashion they led him to M. du Chaillu. " I 
cannot," he writes, "describe the emotions which I 
felt. That single moment recompensed me for all the 
fatigue and suffering I had undergone in Africa." 

The excitement in the village was intense. The 



BABY GORILLAS. 27 

young gorilla roared and bellowed, and looked around 
wildly with bis wicked little eyes, giving fair warning 
that if be could only get at some one he would take 
his revenge. In two hours they had built a strong 
bamboo bouse, with the bars sufficiently apart to 
enable the ape to see and to be seen. Here he was 
immediately deposited, and M. du Chaillu enjoyed 
the opportunity of tranquilly examining his prize. 

" It was a young male, evidently not yet three years 
old. Its face and hands were very black ; eyes not so 
much sunken as in the adult. The hair began just at 
the eyebrows and rose to the crown, where it was of a 
reddish-brown. It came down the sides of the face in 
lines to the lower jaw, much as our beards grow. The 
upper lip was covered with short coarse hair, the lower 
lip had longer hair. The eyelids very slight and thin ; 
eyebrows straight, and three-quarters of an inch long. 

" The whole back was covered with hair of an iron- 
grey, becoming dark nearer the arms, and quite white 
about the anus ; chest and abdomen covered with hair, 
which was somewhat thin and short on the breast. On 
the arms the hair was longer than anywhere on the 
body, and of a greyish-black colour, caused by the roots 
of the hair being dark and the ends whitish. On the 
hands and wrists the hair was black, and came down to 
the second joints of the fingers, though one could see 
in the short down the beginning of the long black hair 



28 THE GORILLA. 

which lines the upper parts of the fingers in the adult. 
The hair of the legs was greyish-black, becoming 
blacker as it reached the ankles, the feet being covered 
with black hair. 

"When I had the little fellow safely locked in his 
cage, I ventured a few encouraging words to him. He 
stood in the farthest corner, but as I approached, 
bellowed and made a precipitate rush at me, and 
though I retreated as quickly as I could, succeeded in 
catching my trousers, which he grasped with one of 
his feet and tore, retreating immediately to the corner 
farthest away. This taught me caution for the present, 
though I had hopes still of being able to tame him. 

" He sat in his corner looking wickedly out of 
his grey eyes, and I never saw a more morose 
or more ill-tempered face than had this little 
beast. 

" The first thing was, of course, to attend to the 
wants of my captive. I sent for some of the forest 
berries, which these animals are known to prefer, and 
placed these and a cup of water within his reach. 

" He was exceedingly shy, and would neither eat nor 
drink till I had removed to a considerable distance. 

" The second day found Joe, as I had named him, 
fiercer than the first. He rushed savagely at any one 
who stood even for a moment near his cage, and 
seemed ready to tear us all to pieces. I threw him 



BABY GORILLAS. 29 

to-day some pineapple leaves, of which I noticed he 
ate only the white parts. 

" There seemed no difficulty about his food, though 
he refused now — and continued during his short life 
to refuse — all food, except such wild leaves and fruit as 
were gathered from his native woods for him. 

" The third day he was still morose and savage, 
bellowing when any person approached, and either 
retiring to a distant corner or rushing to attack. 

" On the fourth day, while no one was near, the little 
rascal succeeded in forcing apart two of the bamboo 
rails which composed his cage, and made his escape. 
I came up just as his flight was discovered, and im- 
mediately got all the negroes together for pursuit, de- 
termining to surround the wood and recapture him. 
Running into my house to get one of my guns, I was 
startled by an angry growl issuing from under my low 
bedstead. It was Master Joe, who lay hid there, but 
anxiously watching my movements. I instantly shut 
the windows and called to my people to guard the door. 
When Joe saw the crowd of black faces, he became 
furious, and with his eyes glaring, and with every sign 
of rage in his little face and body, got out from 
beneath the bed. We shut the door at the same time, 
and left him master of the premises, preferring to 
devise some plan for his easy capture rather than to 
expose ourselves to his terrible teeth. 



80 THE GORILLA. 

" Meantime Joe stood in the middle of the room, ex- 
amining with some surprise the furniture. I watched 
with fear, lest the ticking of my clock should strike his 
ear, and perhaps lead to an assault upon that precious 
article. 

" Finally, seeing him quite still, I despatched some 
fellows for a net, and opening the door quickly, threw 
this over his head ; fortunately, we succeeded at the 
first throw in fatally entangling the young monster, 
who roared frightfully, and struck and kicked in every 
direction under the net. I took hold of the back of 
his neck, two men seized his arms, and another man 
his legs, and thus held by four men, this extraordinary 
little creature still proved most troublesome. We 
carried him as quickly as we could to the cage, which 
had been repaired, and there once more locked him in. 
I never saw so furious a beast in my life as he was ; 
he darted at every one who came near, bit the bamboos 
of the house, glared at us with venomous and sullen 
eyes, and in every motion showed a temper thoroughly 
wicked and malicious ; and as there was no change in 
this for two days thereafter, but continual moroseness, 
I tried what starvation would do towards breaking his 
spirit. It also began to be troublesome to procure his 
food from the woods, and I wanted him to become 
accustomed to civilized food, which was placed before 
him. But he would touch nothing of the kind ; and 



BABY G0KILLAS. 31 

as for temper, after starving him twenty-four hours, all 
I gained was that he came slowly up and took some 
berries from the forest out of my hand, immediately 
retreating to his corner to eat them. 

" Daily attention from me for a fortnight more did not 
bring any further confidence from him than this. * * * 
At the end of this fortnight I came one day to feed 
him, and found that he had gnawed a bamboo to pieces 
slyly, and again made his escape. Luckily, he had but 
just gone. As I looked around I caught sight of Master 
Joey making off on all-fours, and with great speed, 
across the little prairie for a clump of trees. 

" I called the men up, and we gave chase. * * * He 
did not ascend a tree, but stood defiantly at the border 
of the wood. About one hundred and fifty of us sur- 
rounded him. As we moved up he began to yell, and 
made a sudden dash at a poor fellow who was in 
advance, who, as he ran, tumbled down in a fright, and 
by his fall escaped, but also detained Joe sufficiently 
long for the nets to be brought to bear upon him. 

"Four of us again bore him struggling into the 
village. This time I would not trust him to the cage, 
but had a little light chain fastened round his neck. 
This operation he resisted with all his might, and it 
took us quite an hour to securely chain the little fellow, 
whose strength was something marvellous. 

* * * "To the last he continued utterly untame- 



32 THE G0EILLA. 

able ; and, after his chains were on, added the vice of 
treachery to his others. 

" He would come sometimes quite readily to eat out of 
my hand, but while I stood by him would suddenly — 
looking me all the time in the face, to keep my atten- 
tion — put out his foot and grasp my leg. Several 
times he tore my pantaloons in this manner, quick 
retreat on my part saving my person, till at last I was 
obliged to be very careful in my approaches. 

" The negroes could not come near him at all without 
setting him in a rage. 

" After he was chained, I filled a half-barrel with hay, 
and set it near him for his bed. He recognized its use 
at once, and it was pretty to see him shake up the hay 
and creep into this nest when he was tired. At night 
he always again shook it up, and then took some hay 
in his hands, with which he would cover himself when 
he was snug in his barrel. Ten days after he was thus 
chained he died suddenly. He was in good health, and 
ate plentifully of his natural food, which was brought 
every day for him. He did not seem to sicken until 
two days before his death, and died in some pain." 

Some months later he was replaced by another one. 
This time M. du Chaillu took part in the capture of 
the young animal. 

" AVe were walking along in silence, when I heard a 
cry, and presently saw before me a female gorilla, with 



BABY GORILLAS. S3 

a tiny baby gorilla hanging at her breast and sucking. 
The mother was stroking the little one, and looking 
fondly down at it; and the scene was so pretty and 
touching, that I held my fire, and considered, like a 
soft-hearted fellow, whether I had not better leave 
them in peace. 

"Before I could make up my mind, however, my 
hunter fired, and killed the mother, who fell without 
a struggle. The mother fell, but the baby clung to 
her, and with pitiful cries endeavoured to attract her 
attention. I came up, and when it saw me it hid 
its poor little head in its mother's breast; it could 
neither walk nor bite, so we could easily manage it, 
and I carried it while the men bore the mother on 
a pole. When we got to the village, another scene 
ensued. The men put the body down, and I set the 
little fellow near. As soon as he saw his mother, 
he crawled to her and threw himself on her breast. 
He did not find his accustomed nourishment, and I 
saw that he perceived something was the matter with 
the old one. He crawled over her body, smelt at it, 
and gave utterance from time to time to a plaintive 
cry, ' hoo, hoo, hoo ! ' which touched my heart. 

" I could get no milk for the poor little fellow, who 
could not eat, and consequently died on the third 
day after he was caught. He seemed more docile 
than the other I Jiad, for he already recognized my 



34 THE G0KILLA. 

voice, and would try to hurry towards me when he 
saw me." 

A third time M. du Chaillu succeeded in procuring 
a young living gorilla, under the following circum- 
stances : — 

He had heen hunting for about an hour, when 
the cry of a young gorilla calling to his mother 
was heard. Two men, who were in advance, and 
who were well accustomed to life in the woods, 
knelt down and crawled through the bushes ; about 
half an hour afterwards two shots were heard. M. 
du Chaillu ran and found the mother shot dead, 
but the young one had saved itself in the woods. 

They concealed themselves in order to wait for its 
return. They had not to wait long, — it reappeared, 
jumped on its mother, and began to suck and to caress 
her. The hunters rushed upon it immediately, but 
although the little animal was evidently less than 
two years old, it fought with so much force that it 
succeeded in escaping. 

It was retaken, nevertheless ; not, however, until one 
of the men had been severely bitten in the arm by 
the little demon. It was a female. When brought 
back to its mother, it threw itself upon her, and 
buried its head in the maternal bosom. It was a 
touching sight. Unhappily, this little female only 
lived ten days; she was not as ferocious as the 



BABY GORILLAS. 35 

young male already described, but she was quite as 
cunning. When she was approached, she exhibited 
the same menacing demonstrations. Her eyes, though 
milder, had the same false and traitorous look, " and," 
writes M. du Chaillu, " she had the same way as 
my other intractable captive, of looking you straight 
in the eyes when she was meditating an attack. I 
remarked, also, the same manoeuvre practised by the 
other when she wanted to seize anything — say my 
arm, which, by reason of her chain, she could not 
reach with her arm ; she looked me straight in the 
face, then, quick as a flash, threw her body on one 
leg and arm, and reached out with the other leg. 
Several times I had narrow escapes of a grip from 
her strong great toe. * * * All her motions were 
remarkably quick, and her strength, though she was 
bo small and young, was truly extraordinary.'* 



x> 2 



chapter n. 
jipars. 

I. — Grizzly Bears. 

Of all the quadrupeds of America, the grizzly hear is 
the only one that is truly formidable, and therefore his 
manners, his habits, and his exploits are the favourite 
theme of the hunters of the "West. His size is enor- 
mous, and his strength prodigious ; his speed far 
superior to that of a man endeavouring to escape from 
him by flight. His claws are nearly nine inches in 
length. Although he is very fond of fruits, acorns, and 
roots, he is carnivorous as well as herbivorous. He 
attacks the buffalo, fells him to the ground, and drags 
him to some spot where he can feed on him at leisure. 
If a man attacks him, he squats on his hind paws 
and accepts the combat ; and when pressed by hunger, 
he becomes the assailant. When wounded, he becomes 
furious, and then the tables are turned, and man is 
hunted. He was formerly known on the Missouri and 
in the low countries, but, like the tribes of the prairies, 
he has gradually beaten retreat before the march of civi- 



GRIZZLY BEARS. 37 

lization, and to-day he is only to be found in elevated 
regions, — in the Bocky Mountains, for example, and 
in the Black Mountains, a great chain situated about 
thirty-three leagues to the east of thern. There he 
hides himself in caverns, or in holes scooped out by 
himself under the roots and trunks of fallen trees. 

Hunters, whether red or white, regard the hunting 
of the bear as the most heroic of all the field sports on 
the American continent. They prefer attacking him 
on horseback, and sometimes they approach sufficiently 
near to touch him, but woe to the horse or the rider 
that gets too near to his terrible claws ! The man 
must have a sure eye and a steady hand to strike the 
animal in a vital part, for he is very difficult to kill ; and 
it very rarely happens that one shot kills him, unless it 
passes through his head or his heart. 

Some Americans on a commercial expedition had 
one evening established their camp at tho foot of the 
Black Mountains. Soon, from the numerous footprints 
among the bushes, they discovered that their tents were 
pitched just in the very midst of one of the rendezvous 
of grizzly bears. From that moment all the charm of 
the encampment was destroyed. 

The night, however, was passed very well, but they 
had sufficient proof next morning that their fears had 
not been groundless. 

" Amongst the. hired men of the party was one 



38 BEARS. 

William Cannon, who had been a soldier at one of the 
frontier posts. 

" He was an inexperienced hunter and a poor shot, 
for which he was much bantered by his more adroit com- 
rades. Piqued at their raillery, he had been practising 
ever since he joined the expedition, but without success. 
One afternoon he went out alone, and, to his great joy, 
he had the good fortune to kill a buffalo. Being at a 
considerable distance from the camp, he cut out the 
tongue and some of the choice bits, made a packet- 
of them, and slinging it on his shoulders by a 
strap passed round his forehead, as travellers carry 
packets of merchandise, he directed his steps all 
glorious for the camp. 

" In passing through a narrow ravine he heard foot- 
steps behind him. He looked round, and saw to his 
great terror that he was followed by a grizzly bear, 
apparently attracted by the smell of the meat. Cannon 
had heard so much of the invulnerability of this tre- 
mendous animal, that he not only did not attempt to 
fire at him, but, slipping the strap from his forehead, 
let go the buffalo-meat and ran for his life. The bear, 
without stopping for the game, pursued the hunter. 
He had nearly overtaken him, when Cannon reached a 
tree, and scrambled up it, throwing down his rifle. 

"An instant after, bruin was at the foot of the tree ; 
but as this kind of bear does not climb, he contented 



GEIZZLY BEARS. 39 

himself by changing his pursuit into a blockade. 
Night came on. Poor Cannon could not know for cer- 
tain in the darkness whether his enemy remained there 
or not, but his fears pictured him rigorously mount- 
ing guard, and he passed the night in the tree, a prey 
to the most horrible fancies. At daybreak the bear was 
gone. Cannon warily descended, picked up his gun, 
and made the best of his way back to the camp, with- 
out troubling himself to go in search of the buffalo- 
meat." 

John Day, an old Kentucky hunter, accompanied by 
one of the clerks, a lively youngster, was following the 
trail of a deer, when suddenly a huge grizzly bear 
emerged from the thicket at thirty yards distant, rear- 
ing himself on his hind-legs with a terrific growl, and 
displa}'ing a hideous array of claws and teeth. The 
young man instantly levelled his gun, but John Day's 
iron hand was quickly upon his arm. " Be quiet, boy, 
be quiet ! " said the hunter between his clenched teeth, 
without turning his eyes from the bear. 

The two hunters remained motionless. The mon- 
ster regarded them for several minutes, then dropping 
his fore- feet, slowly withdrew. 

After a few steps he turned round, sat up again, and 
repeated his menaces. Day's hand was still on the arm 
of his young companion, whilst he repeated between 
his teeth, " Quiet boy ! keep quiet, keep quiet ! " a 



40 BEARS. 

warning but little needed, for the yonng man had 
not moved. 

At length the bear again came down on all- 
fours, retreated another twenty yards, then turned 
round, showed his teeth, and growled. This third 
menace was too much for the game spirit of John 
Day. 

"By Jove!" exclaimed he, "I can stand this no 
longer ; " and in an instant a ball from his rifle whizzed 
into the foe. The wound was not mortal, but luckily 
it dismayed instead of enraging the animal, and he 
retreated into the thicket. 

Day's young companion reproached him for not 
practising the caution which he preached. 

"Look here, my boy," replied the veteran, "caution 
is caution ; but one must not put up with too much, 
even from a bear. "Would you have me suffer my- 
self to be bullied all day by a varmint?"* 

"A hunter, whilst pursuing a deer, fell into one of 
those deep funnel-shaped pits, formed on the prairies 
by the settling of the waters after heavy rains, and 
known by the name of sink-holes. 

" To his great horror he found himself in contact, 
at the bottom of the pit, with a huge grizzly bear. 
The monster grappled him, a deadly contest ensued, 

* Washington Irvine's "Astoria." 



GRIZZLY BEARS. 41 

and the poor hunter was severely torn and bitten, 
and had an arm and a leg broken, but succeeded in 
killing his rugged foe. 

"For several days he remained at the bottom of 
the pit, too much crippled to move, and subsisting 
on the raw flesh of the bear. At length he regained 
sufficient strength to scramble to the top of the pit, 
and crawling into a ravine formed by a nearly dry 
watercourse, he took a delicious draught. The fresh 
water infused new life into him. Then dragging 
himself along from pool to pool, he sustained him- 
self with small fish and frogs. 

" One day he saw a wolf kill a deer in the neigh- 
bouring prairie; he instantly scrambled out of the 
ravine, scared away the wolf, and, lying down beside 
the carcase of the deer, he remained there until he 
had made several hearty meals, by which his strength 
was much recruited. 

"Keturning to the ravine, he followed the water- 
course to a point where it grew to be a considerable 
stream. He descended this river, allowing himself 
to be guided by the current, and just at the point 
where it emptied into the Mississippi, he found a 
fiilen tree, which he launched with some difficulty, 
and getting astride of it, committed himself to the 
current of the mighty river. In this way he floated along 
until he arrived opposite the Fort at Council Bluffs, 



42 BEARS. 

" Happily, he arrived by daylight, otherwise he might 
have passed this solitary post unperceived, and have 
perished in the idle waste of waters. Being descried 
from the Fort, a canoe was sent to his relief, and he 
was brought to shore more dead than alive, where he 
soon recovered of his wounds, but remained maimed 
for life."* 



II. — The Brown Bear. 

The manner in which the Russian peasants hunt this 
bear is worthy of description. The weapon of the 
Fins is a lance. At about a foot from the point a 
bar of iron is fixed crosswise, the object being to 
prevent the lance from penetrating too deeply into 
the body of the animal, and causing him, -pierced 
through and through, to fall upon the hunter. 

When this latter has discovered the bear's winter 
quarters, he posts himself, with his dog, near the 
entrance. The dog barks, the man shouts, and both 
making the greatest noise possible, endeavour to 
irritate the solitary animal and bring him out of 
his den. 

For a long time the bear hesitates, but at last, 



* Irving's " Journey in the Prairies. 



THE BROWN BEAR. 43 

tired of these provocations, he rushes out in great 
fury. 

At sight of the peasant he rises on his hams 
and springs forth; hut the Fin is ready for him, 
holding in front the iron point of his lance pressed 
against his breast, and carefully concealing the stem, 
in order that the length of the weapon may not 
arouse the suspicion of the animal, who otherwise 
would parry with his paws the hlow which the 
hunter is ready to give him. The latter walks 
straight up to the encounter, and, when the distance 
"between them is so^ little that the monster, extending 
his arms, is on the point of reaching him, suddenly 
the weapon is darted forth, with a firm hand and a 
sure eye, through the heart of the hear. 

Had the har of iron not been placed thus crosswise, 
the animal, although mortally wounded, would have 
fallen on the man and have done him serious injury, 
but this bar arrests him in his spring, and the hunter 
soon turns him over. " What will seem extraordi- 
nary," says a naturalist, " is that the bear, instead of 
endeavouring to tear out the lance, holds it tightly 
with his paws, and forces it more deeply into the 
wound." 

This triumph is concluded by a little fete, at which 
there is always present a poet to sing the valour of 
the hunter. 



44 BEAHS. 

The wearing of "bearskins, like that of furs, is not 
always free from inconvenience, and I shall not wander 
from my subject in citing, as a projpos, an episode 
from the "Voyage d'Acerbi." 

He was crossing in a sledge the Gulf of Finland, 
which was entirely frozen over. 

"I expected," he writes, "to have to cross a limit- 
less and monotonous plain. What was my astonish- 
ment, my admiration — even my fright, the farther 
we got from our point of departure ! Enormous 
masses of ice, heaped up one above another, some- 
times in the form of rocks, sometimes of pointed 
pyramids ! "What detours we had to make, in 
order to avoid these groups of ice which barred 
our way! In spite of all precautions, our sledges 
upset one after the other, and constantly brought 
the caravan to a stand. One circumstance, im- 
possible to foresee, increased the dangers which 
surrounded us. The sight of our long pelisses, made 
of Eussian wolf or bearskins, and the odour which 
they exhaled, frightened some of our horses, and made 
them furious. When it became necessary to disengage 
ourselves from our upset sledges, the horses perceived 
us, and taking us for the animals with whose skins we 
were covered, would plunge in their harness, or start 
off at full gallop. The peasant, fearing to lose his 
horse, would cling to the bridle, and rather than 



THE BROWN BEAR. 45 

let go, would allow himself, at the risk of his life, to 
be dragged over the rough ice until his horse was 
stopped. 

" Then we would regain our sleighs, and the conduc- 
tor, taught by experience, would take the precaution to 
bandage the eyes of his horses. One of these animals, 
nevertheless, the fiercest and most spirited in our 
caravan, took fright, and managed to escape altogether. 
The peasant who was driving him, after being dragged 
over the ice for a long time, at last let go the bridle, 
and then the horse, free from all restraint, redoubled 
his speed and broke through all obstacles; the sledge 
which he was carrying away, bounding over the ice, 
added to his fright and lent wings to his speed. We 
followed him for a long time with our eyes, until at 
length he was lost in the horizon. We saw him again 
and again, as he surmounted the frozen waves, like 
a black speck, gradually diminishing, till at last he 
totally disappeared. Kis master took a reserve sledge, 
and started off in pursuit, flattering himself that 
he should find him by following in his track. For 
ourselves, we continued our route towards the Isle of 
Aland, taking, as well as we could, the middle of the 
smoothest passages, not, however, without being 
frequently upset, and in danger of losing one or 
other of our horses, which would have caused us 
no small embarrassment." 



46 . BEARS. 

III. — The White Bear. 

The white bear enjoys a reputation for ferocity which 
does not yield to that of the grizzly, and his character 
will not be changed for the better by what we are about 
to tell of him. 

A ship returning from Nova Zembla having cast 
anchor off one of the islands at the mouth of the 
Strait of "VVaigatz, two sailors had the curiosity to 
visit that island. 

After walking about there for some time, they sat 
down on the shore, in sight of the vessel. 

They were chatting tranquilly together when one 
of them suddenly felt himself seized forcibly by the 
back of the neck. 

He at first supposed it to be one of those rough 
jokes in which sailors sometimes indulge. " Who is 
squeezing me so ? " cried he. 

The other sailor, turning round, uttered a cry of 
alarm — " Oh, my God, it is a bear ! " and he ran 
away. 

It was, in fact, an enormous but very lean white bear, 
which had stealthily approached the two mariners, and 
which soon made a corpse of the one who had fallen 
into his clutches. 

Aroused by the desperate cries of the other, the 
ship's crew, armed with pikes and guns, threw them- 



THE WHITE BEAR. 47 

selves into the boats, landed on the island, and went 
straight to the bear gloating on his prey. 

The bear saw them approach without moving and 
without discontinuing his repast ; and when they had 
approached near him, he started up, and rushing upon 
them, seized one by the middle of his body, and 
throwing him down, dragged him away in sight of 
his stupefied companions, and tore him to pieces with 
his teeth! 

At this sight a panic arose amongst the sailors, 
and they ran away much faster than they came, threw 
themselves into their boats, and, full of terror, 
scrambled into the vessel. 

Once in safety, courage returned to them ; and feel- 
ing ashamed of themselves, and intensely excited, the 
proposition was made to return in a body to land, and 
attack the ferocious animal, wherever they might en- 
counter him. 

Notwithstanding, some of them protested ; and their 
sage discourse is worthy of being transcribed as the 
historian gives it : — 

" Our comrades are dead," said they ; " we cannot 
bring them to life again ; there is no longer any hope 
of saving them. We shall not go to encounter their 
murderer, but to see their limbs scattered hither and 
thither, and to renew our grief at sight of their broken 
bones and torn flesh. What honour can there be in 



43 BEARS. 

running after an inglorious victory, which must be 
bought at the price of a thousand dangers ? " 

How many were there whom this eloquence did not 
touch? — Three! They started at the same instant, 
trusting to nothing but their courage, and very sure 
of having no assistance. 

Crouching over the two bodies, the conqueror was 
about to profit by his victory. They advanced, and, 
apparently at too great a distance, they fired several 
times without touching him. Then the bravest man 
of the three, separating from the other a, approached 
nearer, and taking good aim, he hit the bear a 
little above the eye, the ball passing through his 
head. 

The bear did not fall ; he did not even leave his prey. 
Far from that, he arose, and holding the body by the 
neck, fled away. He had only gone a few steps, 
however, when they saw him stagger, and the sailors 
attacked him with their sabres. 

• The terrible beast fell at length, but he did not leave 
hold of his man until they had plunged a sword into 
his mouth, and given him the coup de grace. 

Then the brave fellows gathered the remains of 
their comrades, and buried them on the island, in 
presence of the whole crew, who could now land with- 
out the fear of breaking the rules of prudence. 

The' skin of the bear was awarded to the man 



THE WHITE BEAR. 49 

who first struck him; it measured thirteen feet in 
length. 

Here is another story to show that the white bear 
dies a hard death : — 

We are on board the ship of Captain Jonge Kees. 
It is evening. They had been cutting up a large 
quantity of whale blubber during the evening. The 
captain and crew, overcome by fatigue, had retired to 
rest. No one remained on deck but the ordinary 
watch. The ship was made fast to a bank of ice. On 
that bank the men on duty saw a bear lying down, 
and apparently asleep. 

"Let us go and surprise him," said they ; and off 
they went, as quietly as possible, in order njot to 
awake any one. But they could not avoid making 
some noise in detaching the boat. The captain, who 
only slept with one ear, heard them : he had just 
been dreaming of a whale, and thinking they had 
discovered one, he arose, went on deck, and learning 
what was the matter, and having verified the fact with 
his telescope, and judging that one boat would not 
suffice, he armed another, and started off with his men. 

The bear saw this little army approaching without 
at first showing any disquietude ; but when the boats 
were close upon the bank, without waiting longer, he 
quitted his place and plunged into the water. 

They followed him with the utmost speed, and soon 

E 



50 EEAES. 

gaining on him, the captain had the hononr of 
striking the first blow with the spear, which pierced 
his entrails. 

They might have redoubled their blows, but as it was 
his skin they most wanted, and they were fearful of 
damaging it, they resolved to give him time to die 
of that first wound, which could not be long. 

Nevertheless, the animal continued to swim, reached 
a little island which arose only about five feet above 
the water, and began to climb up, to the astonishment 
of the sailors, who could not believe him capable of 
making such an effort ; he squatted himself down 
there, with his muzzle on his fore-paws. 

Then the captain became impatient. He steered on 
to the island, landed, and with a long lance he prepared 
to strike a second blow. The bear, which he thought 
was nearly dead, roared, and making a gigantic bound, 
fell on him, and placing one paw on his side and the 
other on his breast, showed him two rows of white teeth. 

He remained in that position, which a painter would 
have paid dear to see, looking at the man as if he de- 
sired (says the report from which we quote) to give 
him time to consider all the horror of the punishment, 
and to lengthen out his cruel vengeance. 

The crew (continues the report) no sooner saw the 
imminent danger of their chief, than they shouted with 
all thmr might towards the ship for more help. But a 



THE WHITE BEAK. 51 

sailor, who did not expect that the hear would have 
the complaisance to await the arrival of assistance, 
scrambled on to the island, and, armed with a boat- 
hook, ran to the defence of the captain, and attacked 
the bear. The boat-hook was a weapon very badly 
chosen. Happily, at sight of this new adversary, the 
animal took flight. The captain had not even a 
scratch. 

A reinforcement arrived from the ship, and they took 
counsel together. 

The bear had not gone far, and was sitting on an ice- 
bank. They attacked him at first with their guns, and 
then with spears, until at length he succumbed, but 
not until the whole crew had joined in the attack. 



a Z 



CHAPTEK in. 

u Sitting by the camp fire in the forests of the Don, 
I have sometimes heard a deep low moan, like the 
rumbling of falling earth. The native servants would 
exchange glances of intelligence, and, affrighted, would 
cease their gossip on the price of corn ; and then the 
conversation would soon turn on the innumerable cases 
of death or of wounds caused by the fiercest and most 
subtle enemy that the sportsman can encounter in 
India." 

Thus Captain Dunlop, of the Indian army, expresses 
himself at the end of his recitals of the chase in the 
Himalayas.* 

It is by this plaintive sigh that the royal tiger makes 
known his presence to the hosts of the forest. In com- 
pany with other animals of his species, he caterwauls 
like a gigantic Tom-oat. His springs, when charging, 
are accompanied by a series of rapid frightful, cough- 
like growls ; "But," says the Captain, " I have heard 



'Hunting in the Himalayas. 



THE TIGER. 53 

a bear making nearly the same noise ; " and M. Louis 
Viardot says the same.* 

With one blow of his paw he will break the back of 
an ox, and will carry him afterwards as a cat carries a 
mouse, and apparently without effort ; and it rarely 
happens that the limbs of the victim touch the ground. 



II. 

Mounted on elephants, some Europeans, among whom 
were some indigo planters and officers of a native regi- 
ment, left Bombay, intending to devote some time to 
the noble pleasure of tiger hunting. They had not yet 
reached the skirt of the forest, when the noise of their 
march aroused a huge tigress, which, far from flying, 
attacked furiously the line of elephants. One of these 
animals, seeing the tiger for the first time, was fright- 
ened, and in spite of the efforts of the hunter who rode 
him, turned tail on the terrible beast. Seeing this, the 
tigress rushed in pursuit, leaped on the elephant's 
back, seized the hunter by the thigh, dragged him to 
the ground, and, throwing him over her shoulders 



* " The bear advanced resolutely, in a straight line, the head 
raised, and uttered at intervals a blusterous hissing, like that 
which a cat makes when barked at by a dog." — Souvenirs da 
Chaise, p. 791. 



54 THE TIGEB. 

as easily as a fox would have thrown a fowl, bounded 
off towards the forest. All the guns were at once 
directed towards her, but no hunter dared to fire, in 
the fear of hitting their unfortunate companion. 

They were soon out of sight, but they could follow 
by the trace of blood shed by the victim. Soon these 
traces became more and more indistinct, and, arrived 
in the heart of the forest, not knowing on which side 
to direct their steps, the hunters, in despair, were 
about to give up the pursuit, when at the very moment 
they least expected it, they perceived the tigress and 
her prey, both extended in the high grass. The beast 
was dead. The man, with his eyes wide open, was 
still conscious, but his thigh remained in the jaws 
of the tigress, and he was too feeble to reply to the 
questions of his friends. It was necessary, in order 
to release him from his terrible position, to cut off the 
head of the animal, and to disjoint her jaws. 

Fortunately, a surgeon was present, and the best care 
was given to the wounded, and he was conveyed to the 
nearest dwelling from the theatre of this frightful scene. 

When he had sufficiently regained his strength, 
he related his adventure thus : — Stunned by his 
fall, weakened by loss of blood and by pain, he had 
fainted a few seconds after the tigress seized him. 
When he regained consciousness he found himself on 
the back of the animal, which was trotting at a rapid 



THE TIGER. 55 

pace towards the thicket. Every second his face and 
his hands were torn by the hushes through which the 
tigress carried hirn. His death appeared to him 
certain, and he remained motionless, resigned to his 
fate. Then the thought struck him that he had in his 
belt a pair of pistols. He seized one of them, and 
pointing it at the animal's head, he fired. The tigress 
shook violently, her teeth were pressed more deeply 
into the flesh of her victim, and that was all. The 
poor fellow fainted again. "When he came to himself 
once more, wishing to try his last chance, he took his 
second pistol, and this time aimed under the shoulder- 
blade, in the direction of the heart, and the tigress fell 
dead, without a struggle or a groan, whilst the hunter, 
exhausted by this last effort, had not even strength to 
shout to his friends when he heard them approach. 



in. 

Let us return to Captain Dunlop. 

He started one morning from the camp of Jubrawalla, 
on the banks of the Sooswa, accompanied by Major 

R . They had with them seven elephants. Near 

this spot was a piece of land covered with young 
cotton plants and thick boxwood bushes. As the 
hunters were crossing this ground, they perceived the 
carcase of an ox, partly devoured by some animal, 



56 THE TIGEB 

which to all appearances had only just quitted his 
feast. The ground was too hard to judge of the 
animal from the footprints. Nevertheless, they im- 
mediately formed in line, and the hunt commenced 
along a dry trench, partly covered hy the jungle. At 
the first turn of the route an animal sprang out of the 
ditch, and for a second stood on the opposite hank, at 
a distance of sixty yards from the hunters. A ghoorka 
declared that it was a calf; but it proved to be a 
full-grown tigress. 

Pursuit commenced immediately. The animal rushed 
across a large piece of ground, on which the grass had 
been burnt, but the most that it could do, being gorged 
with food, was to keep just in advance of the line of 
the seven elephants, which were rushing forward at 
their utmost speed. 

The tigress charged straight through a herd of 
cattle, which immediately dispersed. At length, after 
a race of about two miles, she reached a part of the 
jungle which crossed a deep nullah, and the hunt 
began again. " Scarcely had I entered that part of 
the jungle which I was about to search, when I saw 
her under a bush, crouching down, ready to make a 
spring ; and firing one barrel straight between her eyes, 
she rolled over into the nullah. She threw herself 
repeatedly against the side in her attempts to remount, 
but failed to accomplish it, all troubled as she was 




i.niiii 



THE TIGER. 67 

from the effects of my ball, which had made a large 
fracture in her skull, grazed the brain, and caused an 
overflowing of blood in the throat. The shot was fatal, 
for it was impossible for her to leave the place ; and 

R , who came up soon afterwards, despatched her 

with a ball behind the ear." 

The carcase was hoisted on one of the elephants ; 
not, however, without the latter protesting by sundry 
imprecations and objections after his fashion. 

Another time (it was in 1855, at the famous fair of 
Hurdwar) two or three millions of people, from all 
parts of India, — Thibet, the Punjaub, Afghanistan, 
and Persia, were assembled at this religious and com- 
mercial rendezvous ; and Captain Dunlop was present 
as superintendent of the mountain district. 

The second day a native came to tell him that in the 
very midst of that immense assembly a tiger had just 
struck down a man. The Captain immediately dis- 
tributed rifles amongst some officers who were on a visit 
near him, and they started off, to the number of seven. 
Unfortunately, there was no hunting elephant in the 
camp, and they were obliged to content themselves 
with three saddle elephants, although it was almost 
certain that they would turn tail at the critical mo- 
ment. Each elephant carried two hunters, and the 
Beventh, Mr. 0. Bradford, rode on horseback. 

At the distance of about 500 yards they found the 



58 THE TIGER. 

unfortunate countryman, with his skull fractured and 
his Drains uncovered. A little farther on they were 
shown, in the midst of a field of wheat, a thicket ahout 
thirty yards square. It was from this thicket that 
the tiger had thrown himself upon his victim, and 
there also he had taken refuge. 

Some thousands of the natives, seeing the hunters, 
united together around the place, enclosing the tiger 
in a living circle. It was fortunate for Mr. Dunlop and 
his friends that they were mounted on the elephants, 
for on foot it would have heen impossible to discharge 
their guns without wounding some one in the crowd. 
Now let the narrator speak : — 

" Our feline friend, evidently arrived at a pitch of 
lively excitement, did not await our arrival, but charged 
upon us of his own accord with a cry of rage. 

" The three elephants with one accord faced about, 
and ran one against the other, screaming and crying 
with fright, whilst Bradford danced around them on 
my chestnut, 'Waverley.' Several shots were never- 
theless fired by our quadrille, and with some success, 
inasmuch as whilst neither of us was hit, one ball 
was sent through the fore-leg of the tiger just in time 
to stop short his charge, and to send him back into 
the cover. 

"An active struggle now began between the elephants 
and their drivers, seeing that no force, moral or phy- 



THE TIGER. 59 

sical, no caressing or spurring, could induce them 
to form in line, to beat the thicket out of which had 
come the monster which had so troubled their minds. 

" At last, pell-mell, and driven like sheep, they ad- 
vanced to about fifty yards from the thicket, guided 
only by the violent blows of the aniens, when a second 
roar from the tiger served as a prelude to a fresh 
charge with all his speed. 

" This would doubtless have been, from the manner 
in which it was made, a flight to his lair, but luckily, 
amongst the numerous shots fired from the howdahs, 
which were rolling and pitching like boats on the sea, 
a ball, fired by Melville, struck the tiger's shoulder, 
which sent him rolling at four feet from Grant's 
elephant, where we saw him lying on his back, with 
his hind-legs paralyzed, and performing the exercise 
of a pugilist with his fore-legs. The roars of the 
elephants, the howling of the tiger, and the cries of 
the crowd, produced such a confusion, that Melville's 
elephant faced completely round and took to his heels. 

" The hurrah which followed the fall of the tiger 
had scarcely subsided when he arose, and, balanc- 
ing himself, attempted to spring forward a few 
yards, principally by means of his fore-paws. He 
repeated this manoeuvre at each discharge : it seemed 
as if each ball had a revivifying effect on his system, 
like sal volatile. He had risen for the last time, when 



GO THE TIGER. 

some of us descended from our elephants to examine 
him more closely. 

" He was found to he a male, and one of the largest 
I had ever seen." 



IV. 

Another hunter, and similar stories. Our guide is 
now M. Thomas Anquetil. The scene is in Birmah, 
at some miles from Ngnyoun-goo, in a forest, in the 
centre of which a lake occupies the place of an ancient 
monastery which had heen destroyed hy an earth- 
quake. This lake is covered by water-fowl. 

Accompanied hy a European, M. le Baron de 

L , his servants, and a few natives, amongst 

whom was one named Laos, M. Thomas Anquetil 
went out hunting. 

Going along by the side of the lake on foot, the 
narrator separated from his companions, and followed 
only by an Indian rower, who had charge of his rifle, 
had just fired both barrels on a flight of birds. The 
Indian went forward immediately to gather up the 
dead and the wounded. " He had not gone twenty 
yards when a sharp, piercing, and terrible roar re- 
sounded through the solitudes of the jbrest, and was 
re-echoed by the neighbouring rocks. Soon I heard a 
rapid movement, and then a tiger sprang from the 



/ 



THE TIGER. 61 

bushes, which he broke like straw. The tiger was 
forty yards off. The Indian stood still, aimed, and 
fired; a fresh roar, and the ferocious beast pursued 
his course. 

"At twenty yards the Indian fired his second barrel; 
a frightful cry of terror and agony was the reply. 
The tiger at one bound reached and seized his enemy, 
and tore him in pieces ! " 

M. Thomas Anquetil threw down his rifle, and 
taking his revolver in his right hand and his cutlass 
in his left, he held himself in readiness ; he could 
not fire, for the man and the tiger were so entangled 
together. At length the animal, with his eyes on fire, 
his mouth all bloody, and lashing his sides with his 
tail, abandoned the dead body, and turning round 
upon the hunter, prepared for a spring, when six shots 
resounded. All the balls had struck, and the animal 
rolled on the ground, uttering a convulsive groan. 

" The Indian was reduced to a shapeless heap. He 
had not left his hold on my rifle. His cramped fingers 
still clung with one hand to the stock and the other to 
the barrel of the gun. The wood was broken and the 
barrels bore marks of the tiger's fangs. 

" The ferocious beast — it was a female — lay on the 
left side, the claws stiffened, the pupils contracted, the 
mouth dripping with blood, slimy foam, and shreds 
of throbbing flesh. She belonged to the species called 



62 THE TIGER. 

the Boyal Tiger, winch I recognized by the short nap, 
strewn with black and irregular rays over the tawny 
hair. But its height and length, the fineness of its 
extremities, and the grace of its form, denoted that 
it was not yet quite full grown. I suppose it was 
about seven years old. 

" The oarsman's ball had glided over the ribs and 
ploughed the right flank of the beast ; the second had 
entered the flesh at the top of the shoulder. One 
inch lower, and the Indian would have conquered the 
tiger, for he would have broken the joint. He had 
evidently fired each time a little too hastily; 

" Two of my six balls had shattered the tiger's jaw; 
the four others were lodged in the breast, and one of 
them had grazed the heart. 

" Scarcely had our inspection terminated when Laos, 
who had carefully watched all, pressed under his finger 
the slightly distended udder of the beast, and there 
issued a yellowish-white milky fluid. This was a ray of 
sunlight to him. He seized his cutlass and started off, 
without speaking a word, and began to search about 
the end of the peninsula, beating every tuft of bushes. 
The Baron and I, being greatly moved, took up our 
firearms and set ourselves to watch with increasing 
interest. 

" At the end of the peninsula footprints were seen 
on the greasy and humid shore — some large and deep, 



THE TIGER. 63 

others small and almost imperceptible. Laos at once 
guessed the meaning. The beasts had come there 
to quench their thirst, after which they had gone away 
on different tracks. 

" At one place, where the grass and the shrubs had 
been more trodden down than elsewhere, as if many 
beasts had made their halt there, Laos remarked that 
the track in front, which was that of the mother, was 
much more decided than the light impression which 
was seen on the left. This last index was sufficient. 
At forty yards farther a shout escaped from him. 

" Under a covering of lotus and flowering rushes, 
two young tigers, a little larger than cats, as round as 
balls, lay one against the other, awaiting their mother 
in a kind of fierce terror. They were about three 
weeks or a month old at most. Laos having half 
opened with the point of his stick this verdant screen, 
they opened their eyes, stretched out their claws, 
showed their teeth, and growled : with one blow with 
the butt-end of his gun he stunned them both. 

" To tie their legs together with cords, to take off his 
vest, and to divest himself of his patsoo (he was then 
naked as a glass, about which he did not trouble him- 
self the least in the world), was for him an affair of 
half a minute. 

" Then he extended his vest on the ground, and 
placed thereon the two little animals, and tied up the 



64 THE TIGEE. 

opposite ends. Then having opened out his patsoo, he 
enclosed the packet, and placing it on a branch ove/ 
his shoulder, he marched away, after the fashion of a 
country labourer. 

" The hunters returned through the forest, M. Thomas 
Anquetil and the Baron walking ahead, in conversation. 

"Suddenly a warm breath passed over my cheek; I 
felt myself seized by my girdle from behind, and 
the grave voice of Laos murmured rapidly these 
words in my ear, — ' Take care, master ; do not ad- 
vance.* 

" < What is it, then?' 

" ' A tiger ! ' said he, extending his arm. 

" This dialogue took place whilst I was taking down 
my rifle, which was unfortunately fixed in my shoulder- 
belt. 

" A little eminence of twelve or fifteen feet overhung 
the route. Around a mango tree of moderate growth 
was a cluster of flowering mallows. 

" The tiger, the position of whose body we could 
guess at, but as yet we could only see his head, was 
watching us with a fixed gaze, his back against the 
tree, and his body bent under him, in order to give 
double force to his spring. He was waiting until we 
should arrive in front of him, to throw himself upon 
us suddenly and at one bound ; the intorval which 
separated us was scarcely thirty yards. 



THE TIGER. 65 

" When we stood to take aim at him he understood 
that he was discovered. A slight movement on one 
side, as if to examine where he could fly, betrayed this 
instinctive sentiment. Then all at once, obeying his 
sanguinary nature, or rather his courage, he turned to 
us suddenly, and crouching on his haunches, prepared 
to spring on us. 

" Immediately I called out, ' One ! two ! three ! — fire ! ' 

." He fell on the path like a lump of lead, at five or 

six yards froro the foot of the eminence, so great was 

the impulse of the fall ; and, strange to say, without a 

cry or a groan. 

" He remained there — his fore-legs extended ; his 
hind legs hidden underneath him ; his nose buried in 
the dust : one might have said that he was asleep. 
But was he really dead, or only stunned ? 

" We advanced whilst loading our guns ; and, in the 
meantime, my people kept their eyes on him. Not 
seeing him move, I had a great desire to riddle his 
head with the balls of my revolver, remaining at a few 
yards' distance ; for the tiger, like the lion, has some- 
times sudden starts and returns of fury, which are 
extremely dangerous. Let him reach you at such a 
moment, and you are lost. His paw fells you, his 
claws rip you open, and his teeth crush your limbs, 
were he at the very point of expiring. 

" Laos dissuaded me, saying that I should injure the 

F 



GQ 



THE TIGER. 



skin, and lie begged of me to let him do it. I con- 
sented ; but, nevertheless, I continued to aim at the 
animal, at all hazards. 

" Laos deposited his burden of the two young tigers 
on the ground, and then, taking up his club with his 
two hands by the extremity of the handle, he placed 
himself well in front of the beast, and dealt him a 
blow on the head with all his might, with so much 
vigour, indeed, as to split the skull in two as a butcher 
would that of an ox. 

" It was a full-grown male ; and a very splendid 
animal he was. 

" Laos took the fancy to draw the scent of the beast 
before the two cubs, still wrapped up in the patsoo ; 
they squalled and tore like mad things, until they 
very nearly managed to effect their escape. This 
was evidence to me that the tiger was their father. 

" Poor Laos ended very badly. M. Thomas- Anquetil 
had made him a present cf a rifle and ammunition, of 
which no one could make better use. One day, sur- 
prised by a tiger, he promptly put himself on the 
defensive. His two barrels missed fire in the very face 
of the animal, and he was devoured in the twinkling 
of an eve." 




VHK LIOM Of SOUTH ▲PKI01. 



f Paw VI. 



CHAPTER IV. 

&Ije f ixm jof Bonfy %fxitu. 

The lion of South Africa, or the dog-nosed lion, difiVr.6 
considerably from the lion of Northern Africa in its 
physical characteristics and its habits, as well as in its 
size, strength, and courage; and the following anecdotes 
will serve to exhibit some of these characteristics. 

"When," says Livingstone, "a lion is met in the 
daytime, a circumstance by no means infrequent to 
travellers in these parts, if preconceived notions do not 
lead them to expect something very ' noble ' or * majes- 
tic,' they will see merely an animal, somewhat larger 
than the biggest dog they ever saw, and partaking very 
strongly of the canine features. The face is not much 
like the usual drawings of a lion, the nose being 
prolonged like a dog's ; not exactly such as our painters 
make it, though they might learn better at the Zoolo- 
gical Gardens : their ideas of majesty being usually 
shown by making their lions' faces like old women in 
nightcaps." 

f 2 



68 THE LION OF SOUTH AFRICA. 

It should, however, be said in reply to this, in the 
first place, that hitherto painters have never had South 
African lions for their models ; and then that this lion, 
although less formidable than the lion of the Atlas, is, 
nevertheless, not quite so contemptible an animal as 
the worthy traveller would have us believe. 



II. 

One of the characteristic traits of this or that variety 
is undoubtedly the great number of individuals which 
represent it in certain parts of Africa. Not that one 
finds in any part entire armies of lions, such as are 
spoken of by the author of an old work, " Voyage a 
l'ile de France ; " but every traveller has had occasion 
to note that on such a night, in such a place, many 
lions, roaring horribly, were prowling round his camp 
fire. 

Listen to Le Vaillant : — 

" On all sides we heard wild beasts, and above all 
lions, crying and roaring in a fearful manner. Many of 
the latter in particular would come and prowl round 
our camp all night, filling with dismay both my men 
and my animals ; neither our fires nor our muskets 
would drive them away ; they would reply with a sort 
of savage fury to the roaring of those in the neighbour- 
hood, as if inviting them to the carnage by making a 



THE LION OF SOUTH AFRICA. 60 

general attack upon us. Nevertheless, daybreak would 
deliver us." 

Mr. Moffat was on a tour among the Barolongs : 
they had halted beside a pool of water, and at night 
they lighted the camp fires. Scarcely had the traveller 
got into his waggon to pass the night, when he heard 
the oxen stamping their feet with fright. A lion had 
just followed a heifer which they had neglected to tie 
up, and carried it off to a distance of about a hundred 
yards. They heard him breaking the bones of the 
animal, which was sending forth most lamentable cries. 
They fired several times in the direction of the noise, 
and the lion replied only by roaring. Once he even 
came up to the waggons, two natives having flung fire- 
sticks at him. The sight of the fire only served to 
redouble his fury. He was rushing on them, when a 
ball struck the ground close by him, and he turned 
away, still roaring. 

As the fuel was getting very low, they profited by 
the temporary departure of the lion to go and seek 
some wood. " I had not gone far," says Mr. Moffat, 
u when I perceived between myself and the horizon 
four animals, whose attention seemed to have been 
aroused by the noise which I had made in breaking 
some dry branches. Looking at them more closely, I 
perceived that these new visitors were no other than 
lions. I immediately beat a retreat, crawling on my 



70 THE LION OF SOUTH AFRICA. 

hands and knees towards the pond, to inform our guido 
of the danger we were in. I found him not less fright- 
ened than myself, and looking fixedly in the opposite 
direction ; there, indeed, were two more lions and a 
cub, devouring us with their looks, and appearing only 
to await our movements, in order to decide upon their 
own. By an optical illusion which I have often noticed 
in obscurity, they appeared to be double their real size. 
We lost no time in entrenching ■ ourselves in the 
waggon and in raking up our fire, whilst at only a short 
distance from us we could hear the first lion tearing 
and devouring his prey. When one of the other 
famished animals, which was prowling about the out- 
skirts, attempted to approach him, he would drive him 
away with such a horrible howling, as made our poor 
oxen tremble, and was by no means reassuring to our- 
selves. We had too good ground to fear that out of 
six lions there might bo at least one which would 
spring upon us without allowing himself to be stopped 
by our miserable fire. The two Barolongs begrudged 
the animal his succulent repast, and from time to time 
a sigh of regret would escape from them, at the 
thought of the loss of their cow and of all the milk 
with which she would have supplied them. A little 
before daybreak, having swallowed the whole animal, 
the lion retired, leaving nothing behind but some re- 
mains of the bones. 



THE LION OF SOUTH AFRICA. 71 

" When the morning arrived we examined the place, 
and we found from the traces of the lion that he was 
of the largest size, and that he alone had devoured 
the heifer. The footmarks of the other lions did not 
approach within thirty yards of the place. Two jackals 
alone had come to finish the debris. Although I had 
often heard spoken of the enormous quantity of food 
which a hungry lion would devour, it required nothing 
less than such a demonstration as this to convince me 
that a single individual was capable of devouring all 
the flesh of a heifer, without counting a large quantity 
of bones ; for. there only remained a rib or two and 
even many of the marrowbones had been broken, as if 
with a hammer." 

Livingstone says, " Whilst I was engaged in re- 
moving our dwelling to Kolobeng, there came such a 
large number of lions round our half-deserted homes, 
that the natives, who remained with Mrs. Livingstone, 
would not have dared for the world to go out of doors 
after nightfall." 

We could multiply examples almost without limit. 

The author whom we have just quoted observes 
somewhere, that the abundance of lions is explained 
by that of the large game ; and of this latter he gives 
us in many places of his book marvellous examples. 
I cannot resist the pleasure of citing the following 
passage : — 



72 THE LION OF SOUTH AFRICA. 

" The valley named Kandehy, or Kandehai, is as pic- 
turesque a spot as is to be seen in tins part of Africa. 
The open glade, surrounded by forest trees of various 
hues, had a little stream meandering in the centre, A 
herd of reddish coloured antelopes stood on one side, 
near a large baobab, looking at us, and ready to run 
up the hill, while gnus, tsessbes, and zebras gazed in 
astonishment at the intruders. Some fed carelessly, 
and others put on the peculiar air of displeasure 
which these animals sometimes assume before they 
resolve on flight. A large white rhinoceros came 
along the bottom of the valley with his slow sauntering 
gait without noticing us ; he looked as if he meant to 
indulge in a mud bath. Several buffaloes, with their 
dark visages, stood under the trees on the side opposite 
to the pallahs." 

And again : " At a short distance below us we saw 
the Kafue, wending its way over a forest-clad plain to 
the confluence, and on the other side of the Zambesi ; 
beyond that lay a long range of dark hills. A line of 
fleecy clouds appeared lying along the course of that 
river at their base. The plain below us, at the left 
of the Kafue, had more large game on it than any- 
where else I had seen in Africa. Hundreds of 
buffaloes and zebras grazed on the open spaces : and 
there stood lordly elephants, feeding majestically, 
nothing moving, apparently, but the proboscis. 



TIIE LION OF SOUTH AFRICA. 73 

"When we descended we found all the animals 
remarkably tame. The elephants stood beneath the 
trees, fanning themselves with their large ears, as 
if they did not see us at 200 or 300 yards' distance. 
"VVe saw great numbers of red-coloured pigs (pota- 
mochoerus) standing gazing at us in wonder. 

" The number of animals was quite astonishing, and 
made me think that here I could realize an image of 
that time when Megatheria fed undisturbed in the 
primeval forests." 



III. 

Another very characteristic feature of the dog-nosed 
lion, is that individuals of this species often unite 
together for the purpose of hunting large game. 

" In winter, during the daytime, one frequently sees," 
writes Delegorgue, "bands of lions united together for 
the purpose of encircling and driving the game towards 
gorges and wooded passes difficult of access, where 
some of their number are posted. These were regular 
but noiseless battues, the scent of the lions being quite 
sufficient to drive away the herbivorous animals that 
came across it. On two occasions, and at only a few 
minutes' interval, we had fallen into the centre of a 
line of these beaters ; there were twenty at first, thirty 



7 i THE LION OF SOUTH AFRICA. 

afterwards. A rhinoceros appeared to be the chief 
object of their greed." 

Livingstone has seen a herd of buffaloes defending 
themselves against a number of lions with their 
horns, the males in advance, the females and their 
young forming a rear guard. 

Messrs. Oswell and Vardon were riding along the 
banks of the Limpopo, when a waterbuck started in 
front of them. "I dismounted," says Mr. Vardon, 
" and was following it through the jungle, when three 
buffaloes got up, and, after going a little distance, 
stood still, and the nearest bull turned round and 
looked at me. A ball from the two-ouncer crashed 
into his shoulder, and they all three made off. 
Oswell and I followed as soon as I had reloaded, and 
when we were in sight of the buffalo, and gaining on 
him at every stride, three lions leapt on the unfor- 
tunate brute. He bellowed most lustily as he kept up 
a running fight, but he was of course soon overpowered 
and pulled down. We had a fine view of the struggle, 
and saw the lions, on their hind legs, tearing away 
with teeth and claws in most ferocious style." Three 
to one is an evident proof of weakness, and even three 
of the South African lions together are not always 
able to master a buffalo, especially a female with little 
ones to defend. A traveller reports having seen a 
female, backed by a river, hold live lions in check, and 



THE LION OF SOUTH AFRICA. 75 

compel them to beat retreat. "I have heard from 
a good source," says Sparrman, "of a lion being 
knocked down and trampled to death by a herd of 
cattle which, pressed by hunger, he had dared to 
attack in the daytime.'* 

It is scarcely fair, however, to exaggerate the rela- 
tive weakness of this animal. He has been seen at 
the Cape to seize a heifer and carry her off with the 
legs trailing the ground, with as much ease as a cat 
would carry a mouse, leaping without any difficulty 
across a ditch, with his load in his mouth. 

Two farmers who were out hunting saw one of these 
lions carrying away a buffalo from the plain over a 
woody hillock ; certainly the animal had had the saga- 
city to lighten the body by disembowelling it. 

How do they manage to share the plunder in these 
expeditions made in common ? With a certain degree 
of equity, one is compelled to think, since the habits 
of association continue. When an old male conducts 
the band, as he reserves to himself the chief part of 
the work, he gives to the others his leavings ; and if 
this is not charitable, it is just. This is the way in 
which the affair is managed, as described by a native: — 

" When several lions together come upon some 
game, the oldest of the troop crawls towards the ob- 
ject of their covetQusness, whilst the others lie down 
quietly on the grass. If he succeeds in becoming 



76 THE LION OF SODTH AFRICA. 

master, as he usually does, he leaves his victim and 
retires for a quarter of an hour or so to take breath ; 
during this time the other lions approach and lie down 
at a respectful distance. "When the chief has finished 
his repose, he begins an attack on the brisket and the 
abdomen ; and after helping himself to the most succu- 
lent morsels, he takes another rest, none of his com- 
panions in the meantime dreaming of moving. Then, 
when he has finished his second repast and retired, the 
others, having watched all his movements, pounce upon 
the remains, which are soon devoured. 

" On other occasions, when a young lion has seized 
his prey and an old one passes by, the young one 
stands aside until his senior has dined." 

Observations made by Mr. Moffat, in continuation 
of his account of the night attack already mentioned, 
agree entirely with the foregoing recital. 

The same native saw one day a lion creeping 
towards the stump of a tree of a blackish colour, and 
not unlike a human form. When the animal had 
approached within about twenty-five yards, he sprang 
forward, and missed his mark by a foot or two, which 
appeared to mortify him very much. After smelling 
the object and discovering his mistake, he returned, 
all ashamed, to his starting-point, made another leap 
with no more success, began again, and at last, at the 
fourth attempt, he succeeded in planting his paw on 



THE LION OF SOUTH AFKICA. 77 

the imaginary prey. Then, satisfied with himself, he 
went away. 

Another Hcttentot relates that a troop of zehras 
was going along a straight path leading to the margin 
of a precipice. A fine stallion formed the reav guard, 
when suddenly, from a rock ten or twelve feet high, a 
lion sprang at the stallion and missed him. The path 
wound round the rock, and the lion comprehended that 
if he could scale it at a single hound, a second spring 
would hring him on to the back of his victim. He 
made the attempt, but could only get sufficiently high 
to see the zebra galloping away, beating the air with 
his tail. He then made a second leap, and a third, 
until he succeeded. During this time two other lions 
had arrived, and chatting together after their fashion, 
the old lion made them take a turn round the rock ; 
then, leading them to the starting-point, he made the 
leap once more in their presence, to show them what 
must be done in future on a like occasion. 

" They were evidently talking together," said the 
African, " but being in a low tone of voice I could not 
comprehend a word of their conversation ; and fearing 
that they might take a fancy to exercise their art at 
my expense, I silently retired, leaving them in the 
midst of their deliberations." 



78 THE LION OF SOUTH AFEICA. 

IV. 

TnE Hottentots hold that a lion never kills a man 
at once, when he has struck him down, unless he is 
irritated by resistance. This would appear to be true 
in general, for there is nothing absolute in natural 
history. 

A father and his two sons were pursuing a lion, when 
the animal turned upon them, and springing upon one 
who fell underneath him, the others, without losing 
an instant, fired and killed the lion, whilst the young 
man was found to have sustained no injury. 

A farmer of the name of Botta, who was also a 
captain of militia, was seen in the same position as this 
young man. For a long time the lion crouched over 
him. The man at length extricated himself, with only 
a few bruises and a bite in the arm — deep, certainly, 
but not such as to put his life in danger. 

We have also the testimony of Livingstone. He 
had wounded a lion, and was in the act of reloading 
his gun, when the lion sprang upon him. "I was 
upon a little height; he caught my shoulder as he 
sprang, and we both came to the ground below to- 
gether. Growling horribly close to my ear, he shook 
me as a terrier dog does a rat. The shock produced 
a stupor similar to that which seems to be felt by a 
mouse, after the first shake of the cat. It caused a 



THE LION OF SOUTH AFRICA. 79 

sort of dreaminess, in which there was no sense of 
pain nor feeling of terror, though quite conscious of 
all that was happening. It was like what patients 
partially under the influence of chloroform describe, 
who see all the operation, but feel not the knife. This 
singular condition was not the result of any mental 
process. The shake annihilated fear, and allowed no 
sense of horror in looking round at the beast. This 
peculiar state is probably produced by all animals 
killed by the carnivora ; and if so, is a merciful pro- 
vision by our benevolent Creator for lessening the pain 
of death. Turning round to relieve myself of the 
weight, as he had one paw on the back of my head, I 
saw his eyes directed to Mebalwe, who was trying to 
shoot him at a distance of ten or fifteen yards. His 
gun, a flint one, missed fire in both the barrels. The 
lion immediately left me, and attacking Mebalwe, bit 
his thigh. Another man, whose life I had saved 
before, after he had been tossed by a buffalo, attempted 
to spear the lion while he was biting Mebalwe. He 
left Mebalwe and caught this man by the shoulder, 
but at that moment the bullets he had received took 
effect, and he fell down dead." 

It would seem that the lion takes quite another 
course when the victim is a beast. Most frequently 
he kills him at a- blow, A farmer had just unyoked 
his oxen, when a lion threw himself successively on 



80 THE LION OF SOL T TH AFRICA. 

two of these animals, whose deaths were instan- 
taneous. 

He had broken their spines. 

"Whence comes this difference ? 

Doubtless from the fear which man inspires, and the 
natural prudence of the lion, which makes him always 
suspect some trap on the part of man, especially of 
a white man, even when he has him in his clutches. 

All Africans are agreed as to the distinction which 
the South African lion establishes between the white 
man and the negro. 

" One morning," relates Mr. Moffatt " after having 
passed the night at the door of the cabin in which 
slept the principal man of the village and his wife, I 
told them that I had heard something moving on the 
other side of the hawthorn hedge, under the shade 
of which I had been sleeping ; and I concluded that 
some of the cattle had broken loose during the night. 
'No/ replied my host, 'I have seen the trail this 
morning — it was the lion.' And he added that some 
nights previously this lion had broken through the 
hedge at the very place where I had been sleeping, and 
had seized a goat, which he carried off through the 
other side of the enclosure. Then he showed the 
remains of a mat, which he had taken from his cabin, 
and burnt to frighten the animal. 

" I asked him how it happened that he had arranged 



THE LION OF SOUTH AFRICA. 81 

for my sleeping just on that particular spot. ' Oil ! ' 
said he, ' the lion would never have had the audacity 
to leap on 3*011 ! ' " 

It would doubtless be scarcely wise to trust abso- 
lutely in that; but since the lion can learn to fear man, 
one can understand that he would have more respect 
for a white man than a black one. 

As to the lion's caution, it is so great, that to him 
who only knew him from this side of his character, he 
would seem to be the most pusillanimous of animals. 

One of the horses belonging to Mr. Codrington, an 
Englishman who was travelling in Africa, having broken 
loose, he was caught in his flight by the trunk of a 
broken tree, round which the bridle had become entan- 
gled, and he was found on this spot forty-eight hours 
afterwards. 

All around him were to be seen numerous footmarks 
of lions, but the horse was safe and sound. Evidently 
this animal, thus fastened in the open country, was to 
them a very suspicious object ; they believed in a trap, 
and did not venture to make the attack. Livingstone 
says : — " Two lions came up by night to within three 
yards of oxen tied to a waggon, and a sheep tied to a 
tree, and stood roaring, but afraid to make a spring, 
fearing a trap. On another occasion one of our party 
was lying sound asleep, and unconscious of danger, 
between two natives behind a bush at Mashue ; the fire 

G 



82 THE LION OF SOUTH AFRICA. 

was nearly out at their feet, in consequence of all being 
completely tired out by the fatigues of the previous day. 
A lion came up to within three yards of the fire, and 
there commenced roaring instead of making a spring : 
the fact of their riding ox being tied to the bush was 
the only reason the lion had for not following his in- 
stinct and making a meal of flesh. He then stood on a 
knoll three hundred yards distant, and roared all night ; 
and continued his growling as the party moved off 
by daylight next morning. " 



V. 

This natural cautiousness and this acquired fear seem 
to us to explain perfectly the conduct of the lion in 
the circumstances we are about to relate. 

A man belonging to the congregation of Bethany 
was returning home from visiting a friend : he made a 
detour in order to pass by a little spring, where he 
hoped to find an antelope for his family supper. 
"When he reached this spot the sun was already very 
high, and not finding the game he was in search of, 
he placed his gun against a rock, quenched his thirst, 
returned to the rock, and smoked his pipe, and then 
slept. 

Soon afterwards, roused up by the intense heat of the 



THE LION OF SOUTH AFRICA. 83 

sim, be observed an enormous lion lying down within 
three yards of him, and with his eyes fixed upon him. 
After remaining for some minutes motionless with 
terror, he recovered his presence of mind, and looking 
round for his gun, he stretched out his hand to seize it. 

The lion saw the movement, lifted his head, and 
roared terribly. The man made one or two further 
attempts, but the gun being beyond his reach he gave 
it up ; for the lion, who appeared perfectly to understand 
his object, also exhibited signs of anger whenever the 
poor wretch moved his hand. 

The position soon became intolerable; the rock on 
which the man was lying had become so heated by the 
sun, that his naked feet could not bear the contact, and 
he was obliged constantly to change them, by placing 
one over the other. The whole day passed in this 
manner, then the night, without the lion moving from 
his place ; the sun rose again, and soon the intense 
heat on the rock rendered the poor Hottentot's feet 
insensible. 

At noon the lion arose and went towards the spring, 
looking behind him to watch the movements of his 
prisoner ; and seeing him stretch out his hand towards 
his gun, he turned round in a fury, and appeared as if 
he was about to spring upon him. After having ap- 
peased his thirst, he returned to his post near the 
rock. 

g 2 



84 THE LION OF SOUTH AFRICA. 

Another night passed away. The man, when he 
recounted this scene, said that he was ignorant as to 
whether he had slept or not ; but that if he had slept it 
must have been with his eyes open, for he had never 
for one moment ceased to see the lion at his feet. 

In the afternoon of the following day the lion 
returned to drink at the spring; and there, having 
heard some noise which frightened him, he disappeared 
in the wood. 

The man went for his gun ; but when he stooped to 
pick it up, his ankles refused to sustain him, and he fell 
down. With his gun in his hand he dragged himself 
to the spring ; his great toes were shrivelled, and the 
soles of his feet scorched. 

He waited a short time for the return of the lion, 
resolved to shoot him through the head, but the 
animal did not come back; and fastening his gun 
behind him, he crawled as well as he could on his 
hands and knees into a neighbouring path, happily 
just as a friend was passing, who carried him into a 
safe place, and bestowed on him all the care which his 
state required; but he lost his toes, and remained a 
cripple for the rest of his life. 

An old Hottentot returning to his home perceived a 
lion that he thougnt was following him : at the end of 
an hour or so he no longer doubted it — the lion was 
following. He naturally thought that the animal was 



THE LION OF SOUTH AFRICA. 85 

only waiting for the night, in order to spring upon 
him. The situation was a critical one ; for, on the one 
hand, the poor wretch could not reach his village 
before night, and, on the other, he had no other 
weapon than a stick. 

Trudging along, not without turning his head round 
from time to time, our friend pondered what was the 
best thing to be done, without being able to find a 
satisfactory solution. The country was absolutely 
naked — not a tree or refuge of any kind at hand. At 
length an idea occurred to him. 

In those parts there are frequently found rocks, 
sometimes of a considerable height, which on one side 
are connected with the surrounding land by a very 
gentle slope, whilst on the other they rise to a peak, 
and form a precipice : they call them kllprons. 

To find a klipron became the fixed idea of the old 
Hottentot; and, turning aside from his path, he soon 
found one, which sloped gradually upwards. He gained 
the summit, and reaching the verge, he sat down, his 
legs hanging over the precipice, and looked behind 
him. The lion was standing still, and watching this 
very doubtful manoeuvre. 

They remained thus, the man sitting, the beast 
standing, until night came on. Then the Hottentot 
quietly slid down to a projection on the vertical face 
of the rock; and, standing upright, he quickly placed 



86 THE LION OF SOUTH AFRICA. 

his hat and his mantle on the end of his stick, raised 
it above his head and above the rock, and waited. 

He had not long to wait. During these preparations 
the lion had stealthily crept up. He saw the man- 
nikin, and, supposing it to be the Hottentot, he 
sprang, and fell head foremost down the precipice. 
Then the poor fellow shouted, " T'katsi/ t'hatsi/" — an 
interjection which combines within itself a thousand 
curses. 

" "We saw two large lions," says Span-man ; " the 
one had a mane, and was therefore a male. They were 
at a distance of from two to three hundred yards from 
us, in a little valley; and the moment they perceived 
us they took to flight. They used in running a kind 
of sidelong motion, like certain dogs, interrupted 
by occasional light springs ; with their necks slightly 
elevated, they seemed to be looking at us sideways. I 
was very curious to study them more closely ; and 
we followed on horseback, shouting after them, and 
tempting them to stop. 

" These cries caused them to redouble their speed ; 
and when they reached the river, which we had to 
cross, they plunged into the neighbouring thicket, and 
we lost sight of them." 

A rich peasant, Jacob Kok, of Zee-Koe-rivier, was one 
day walking in his fields, with a loaded gun, when he 
saw a lion at a short distance from him. He took aim, 



THE LION OF SOUTH AFKICA. 87 

but his gun hung fire ; and, full of fright, he fled for 
his life, followed in turn by his game. Soon finding 
himself out of breath, he leapt on a heap of stones, 
and, facing round, resolved to defend himself with the 
butt end of his gun. 

This attitude imposed on the lion ; he stopped and 
sat down with the coolest air in the world. Never- 
theless, the hunter did not dare to move. In running 
he had lost his powder-flask, and he could only await 
the pleasure of the lion. They remained in this 
position for a good half-hour, looking at each other; 
after which the lion skulked slowly away, affecting 
some dignity meanwhile, but, when he had gone some 
distance, he bolted away with all his speed. 

A man, meeting a lion unexpectedly, fell down faint- 
ing from fright. The lion, astonished, peered round 
the bush, and seeing no one, suspected an ambuscade, 
and started with his tail between his legs. 

He would have gone more slowly if he had been 
perfectly certain of being seen, for his vanity equals his 
distrust. 

" In the daytime," says Livingstone, " the lion 
stands a second or two gazing at the person he en- 
counters ; then he turns slowly round, and walks as 
slowly away for a dozen paces, looking over his 
shoulder ; then he begins to trot, and when he thinks 
himself out of sight, bounds off like a greyhound." 



88 THE LION OF SOUTH AFEICA. 

Mr. Moffat says that lie has seen hushmen, and even 
women, compel a lion to leave the prey which he had 
just seized, simply by shouting and making a noise. 

But this portrait ceases to be a correct one when the 
lion is very hungry or has charge of young ones. 
The cry of the stomach drowns the voice of prudence ; 
the lion no longer distinguishes between black and 
white ; and in a man he only sees a possible prey or 
a certain enemy. 

" At Lopepe, a lioness sprang on the hind-quarter of 
Mr. Oswell's horse, and when we came up to him we 
found the marks of the claws on the horse, and a 
scratch on Mr. O.'s hand. The horse, on feeling the 
lion on him, sprang away, and the rider, caught by a 
wait-a-bit thorn, was brought to the ground and ren- 
dered insensible : his dogs saved him." 

Mr. Codrington, too, was attacked in the same way, 
though not hunting the lion at the time ; but turning 
round, he shot him dead in the neck. 

A widow woman was living in a very isolated dwell- 
ing with her two sons, the eldest of whom was about 
nineteen years old. One dark night they were awoke 
by the lowing of the cattle enclosed in a yard at a 
short distance. They ran for their arms. It was a 
lion. He had broken through the palisade and made 
horrible carnage amongst the cattle. Neither the 
Hottentots nor the young men themselves dared to 



THE LION OF SOUTH AFRICA. 89 

enter the enclosure, but the intrepid widow went in 
alone armed with a gun. In the darkness she could 
scarcely see the lion, but she fired nevertheless ; the 
wounded animal rushed upon her and threw her down. 
At the cries of the poor woman her two sons ran to her 
assistance ; they found the lion attacking his prey. 
Furious and desperate, they rushed upon him, and 
slaughtered him on the bleeding body of their mother. 
Besides the deep wounds which she received in the 
throat and on different parts of her body, the lion had 
bitten off her hand, which he had devoured. 

All help was useless, and the same night she expired, 
in the midst of the sorrows and vain regrets of her 
children and the assembled servants. 

After a successful expedition against the bushmen, 
who had stolen some cattle, Le Vaillant returned to a 
spot where the evening before he had left two Kami- 
nouquois, who had served him as guides. " Just as 
we were approaching, I heard from the troop ahead 
such frightful cries as almost froze my blood with 
alarm. I ran up immediately, and saw a frightful 
spectacle, the picture of which haunts me to this hour. 
Those two unfortunate savages, who so generously had 
offered to conduct me, were lying on the ground, 
almost dead, and weltering in their blood. 

" My first idea was that they had been murdered by 
6ome of those belonging to the horde we had been 



90 THE LION OF SOUTH AFRICA. 

pursuing, but on approaching nearer I was soon dis- 
abused. 

" One of them bad his lower jaw smashed, and almost 
entirely gone ; the shreds which still remained and 
discovered the tongue were hanging all bleeding down 
the neck and bosom. He gave no other sign of life 
than a slight pulsation ; but the prodigious swelling 
of his head, the horrible alteration of his countenance, 
his eyes out of their sockets, had so greatly disfigured 
him, that he preserved no human features, and revolted 
my sight at the same time that he lacerated my heart. 

" His companion had many bites and tears on his 
body, and his arm broken, or rather crushed, in several 
places. Nevertheless his state was by no means so 
grievous, and he could even speak. We inquired the 
cause of his misfortune. He told us that after we had 
quitted them, they extinguished their fire in order not 
to be discovered by the bushmen, and whilst sleeping 
at a few yards from his companion, he was in a short 
time woke up by his cries. He at once rushed to his 
assistance, and he found himself fighting against the 
claws of a lion, which he wounded in the flank. But 
the animal, feeling himself wounded, threw himself 
upon him, and before fleeing away, reduced him to the 
state in which we found him." 



TEE LION OF SOUTH AFRICA. 91 

VI. 

The natives hunt the lions with guns or lances, wmch- 
ever of these weapons they may chance to possess. 
Each of these arms was in use in the encounter which 
we give below, and which nearly proved fatal to Dr. 
Livingstone. 

" The Bakatla of the village Mahotsa were much 
troubled by lions, which leaped into the cattle-pens by 
night and destroyed their cows. They even attacked 
the herds in open day. This was so unusual an 
occurrence, that the people believed they w T ere be- 
witched — ' given,' as they said, ' into the power of the 
lions by a neighbouriDg tribe.' They w r ent once to 
attack the animals, but being rather a cowardly people, 
compared to Bechuanas in general on such occasions, 
they returned without killing any. 

"It is well known that if one in a troop of lions is 
killed, the others take the hint and leave that part of 
the country. So the next time the herds were at- 
tacked, I went with the people in order to encourage 
them to rid themselves of the annoyance by destroying 
one of the marauders. We found the lions on a small 
hill about a quarter of a mile in length, and covered 
with trees. A circle of men was formed round it, and 
they gradually closed up, ascending pretty near to 
each other. 



92 THE LION OF SOUTH AFRICA. 

"Being down below on the plain with a native 
schoolmaster, named Mebalwe, a most excellent man, 
I saw one of the lions sitting on a piece of rock within 
the now closed circle of men. Mebalwe fired at him 
before I could, and the ball struck the rock on which 
the animal was sitting. He bit at the spot struck, as 
a dog does at a stick or stone thrown at him ; then 
leaping away, broke through the opening circle and 
escaped unhurt. The men were afraid to attack him, 
perhaps on account of their belief in witchcraft. 
When the circle was reformed, we saw two other lions 
in it, but we were afraid to fire lest we should strike 
the men ; and they allowed these beasts to burst 
through also. If the Bakatla had acted according to 
the custom of the country, they would have speared 
the lions in their attempt to get out. Seeing we could 
not get them to kill one of the lions, we bent our 
footsteps towards the village. In going round the end 
of the hill, however, I saw one of the beasts sitting on 
a piece of rock as before, but this time he had a little 
bush in front. Being about forty yards off, I took a 
good aim at his body through the bush, and fired both 
barrels into it. The men then called out, '-He is shot ! 
he is shot ! ' others cried, ' He has been shot by another 
man too ; let us go to him ! ' I did not see any ono 
else shoot at him, but I saw the lion's tail erected in 
anger behind the bush, and turning to the people, said, 



THE LION OF SOUTH AFKICA. 93 

' Stop a little, till I load again.' "When in the act of 
ramming down the bullets I heard a shout. Starting, 
and looking half round, I saw the lion just in the act 
of springing upon me." 

This was the occasion on which Livingstone was 
knocked doAvn, and, as it will be remembered, the lion 
quitted him to throw himself on the other aggressor : 
this one was bitten on the thigh. "Another man," 
he continues, " whose life I had saved before, after he 
had been tossed by a buffalo, attempted to spear the 
lion while he was biting Mebalwe. He left Mebalwe 
and caught this man by the shoulder, but at that 
moment the bullets he had received took effect, and he 
fell down dead. The whole was the work of a few 
moments, and must have been his paroxysm of dying 
rage. In order to take out the charm from him, the 
Bakatla on the following day made a huge bonfire over 
the carcase, which was declared to be that of the 
largest lion they had ever seen. Besides crunching 
the bone into splinters, he left eleven teeth-wounds on 
the upper part of the arm." 

To see Europeans at the work, let us now return to 
that buffalo which had started up at the approach of 
Messrs. Oswell and Vardon, and which wc left at the 
moment when three lions were upon him tearing him 
with their teeth. 

" Y\ r e crept up within thirty yards, and kneeling down 



94 THE LION OP SOUTH AFRICA. 

blazed away at the lions. One lion fell dead almost 
on the buffalo ; he had merely time to turn towards us, 
seize a bush with his teeth, and drop dead with the 
stick in his jaws. The second made off immediately ; 
and the third raised his head, coolly looked round for 
a moment, then went on tearing and biting at the 
carcase as hard as ever. We retired a short distance 
to load, then again advanced and fired: the lion made 
off, but a ball that he received ought to have stopped 
him, as it went clean through his shoulder-blade. He 
was followed up and killed, after having charged several 
times." 

The colonists generally hunt the lion on horseback. 
But they only hazard themselves on the plain. They 
go two or three together, in order to help each other in 
case of need, and if the game holds to any cover they 
send dogs in to induce it to show itself. 

The attitude of the lion is very different according 
as he sees the hunters are near or at a distance. In 
the first case he flies with all his speed ; in the other 
he moves to and fro with a fierce air, but without 
permitting himself to seem in the least trouble. When 
sharply pursued ho soon slackens his pace, and at 
length stops, faces his enemies, shakes himself, and 
utters a short roar. This is the moment for action. 
The nearest hunter fires, and if he has missed his 
mark, or only wounded the lion, he gallops off; then 



THE LION OF SOUTH AFRICA. 95 

comes tlie turn of the second, and in case of need of 
the third ; and then, if this is not enough, the two 
first, who have by this time reloaded their guns, again 
enter the lists ; and so they continue until the lion is 
at last obliged to acknowledge himself vanquished. 

It is said that there has been no instance of a 
colonist paying the price of his life for the pleasures 
of this sport. 

It is, however, not merely a pleasure ; it is an abso- 
lute necessity for those who live in the remote parts of 
the colony, as they have to defend their cattle against 
the attacks of this insatiable marauder. " They are 
always eager for the chase," says Span-man : " the 
peasants with whom I was hunting seemed only to 
long for an encounter, quite regardless of any possible 
danger likely to happen to them — from which, indeed, 
they felt themselves quite secure." 

Le Vaillant tells of a widow who kept house by 
herself, and who, when wild beasts came to alarm her 
flocks, would mount on horseback, pursue them vigor- 
ously, and never give in until she had either killed 
them or driven them away from her canton. 

We have seen the part which dogs bear in this sport 
— sometimes, indeed, they really do all the work. 
Twelve or fifteen of the dogs bred by the Cape farmers 
will perform wonders. When the lion sees them 
approach, his pride prevents him from going away ; ho 



96 THE LION OF SOUTH AFRICA. 

sits down and waits for them. Then the dogs sur- 
round him, and rushing on him all at once, they com- 
mence tearing him to pieces. They rarely give him 
time to strike more than one or two blows with his 
paws, each one of which, however, is sure and certain 
death to two or three of his assailants. 

The natives sometimes dig pitfalls for lions, as care- 
fully concealed as possible ; but it very rarely happens 
that the cautious animal is caught therein. 

A traveller asserts that the following stratagem suc- 
ceeded : — " They place," says he, " the figure of a man 
near to some guns, disposed in such a manner that 
they will discharge themselves into the body of the 
animal the moment he springs on the mannikin. As 
this method is as easy as it is sure, and as they are not 
particularly anxious to take the lions alive, the colonists 
rarely put themselves to the trouble of laying pit-hole 
traps for them." There are, however, not wanting 
instances in which lions have discovered this mine. 

"A lion," continues the same traveller, " had broken 
through the bars of a gateway into a walled enclosure 
in which the cattle were kept, and committed great 
ravages there. The people of the farm, not doubting 
but that he would return by the same way, bristled the 
entry with loaded firearms attached to a cord stretched 
across the gateway, and feeling quite satisfied that he 
could not enter without disturbing them. The lion 






THE LION OF SOUTH AFBICA. 97 

returned a little before nightfall. He had probably 
some suspicion of this cord : he examined it with his 
paw, and, without exhibiting the least fear of the artil- 
lery roaring in his ears, entered boldly, and devoured 
the prey which he had left the previous evening." 

To conclude this subject, we will describe the siege of 
a thick brake of underwood, in which a whole family of 
lions had taken up their domicile. An entire horde of 
Hottentots were on foot, armed with spears and other 
weapons. Even the women and children had joined the 
party — not to fight, but to look on. Le Vaillant com- 
manded the expedition. The following is an abridg- 
ment of his account of the adventure : — 

" The thicket was about two hundred yards long 
by sixty wide. The space it occupied was lower than 
the surrounding land, so that to penetrate into it we 
had to descend. It was composed mostly of thorn 
bushes, with some mimosas which rose towards the 
centre. 

" In the impossibility of attacking the two formidable 
beasts in their entrenchment, it became a question as 
to the best method of getting them out of it. I de- 
cided to place my marksmen, at short distances apart 
on the heights all round the wood, in such a manner 
that the lions could not gain the plain without being 
seen, being persuaded that as soon as we could get 
them into the open country we should find ourselves 

H 



98 THE LION OF SOUTH AFRICA. 

the strongest, and should not be long in gaining the 
victory. 

"When we were all at our posts, oxen were driven in 
advance, and by dint of shouting and lashing we forced 
them into the thicket. At the same time my dogs 
began to bark; and in order to frighten the lions 
and compel them to come out, pistols were frequently 
discharged. The oxen, on scenting the enemy, fell 
back in terror, and rushed towards us ; but, driven back 
by our clamouring, by the barking of the dogs, and 
the noise of our arms, they became furious, striking 
against each other and bellowing in a fearful manner. 
The lions, on their part, were now growing angry, and 
exhibited their rage by horrible roars. "We heard them 
successively in all parts of the thicket, without their 
daring to show themselves anywhere. The collision of 
two opposing armies is not more clamorous than were 
their defiant roarings, confounded as they were with the 
animated shouts of the men, the noise of the dogs, and 
the furious bellowing of the oxen. This frightful concert 
lasted a good part of the morning, and I had already 
begun to despair of the success of our enterprise, when 
suddenly I heard piercing cries from the opposite side, 
immediately followed by the firing of a gun, and at the 
same time succeeded by shouts of joy. I ran over to i 
the spot, and found the lioness expiring. She had at 
last sprung out of her stronghold and thrown herself 






THE LION OF SOUTH AFRICA. 99 

furiously on my troop ; but Ivlaas had fired and shot 
her through the body. It was evident from the appear- 
ance of her udders that she had young ones, and I was 
not deceived in my conjectures. It occurred to me to 
make use of her body to attract them out of the thicket. 
With this design I caused her to be dragged out and 
placed at a certain distance, not doubting but that they 
would follow her scent and approach her, or perhaps 
that the male would follow, either to avenge her or to 
defend them. 

" But my ruse was useless, and we spent several hours 
in vain waiting for them. The cubs, being disquieted 
at not seeing their mother, ran growling all round the 
stronghold ; and the male himself, separated from her, 
redoubled his angry roars. Wo saw him for an 
instant on the outskirt, his eyes on fire, his mane 
bristling up, and lashing his sides with his tail ; but 
he was out of reach of my rifle. One of my gunners, 
posted more advantageously, missed him, and he disap- 
peared. The sun was going down, and we decided to 
put off the affair until the following day. The following 
day the three lions had decamped." 



B 2 



CHAPTER V. 

%\t gCufffon. 

The mufflon is one of the mammals most characte- 
ristic of the island of Corsica. It is not, however, 
peculiar to that island; it is also found in Sardinia, 
in Crete, and in Spain. 

In the summer it keeps to the plateaus which border 
the regions of eternal snow ; during the winter it de- 
scends lower. In the extreme cold it seeks the deserted 
cabins in which the shepherds had lodged in the sum- 
mer ; and it is said that in some exceptional winters 
mufflons have been seen mingling with the horses, 
mules, and sheep in the stables. 

They go habitually in flocks of from five or six at 
least, to twenty or twenty-five at most, browsing 
the different kinds of grass, and the young shoots of 
many kinds of trees and shrubs, those of the ivy 
above all. Whilst they are feeding an old male keeps 
sentry on some elevated point; at the least danger 
the alarm is given, and in the twinkling of an eye 
all have disappeared in the ravines; and they bound 





A3 OLD MALE KEEPS SSHTRT. 



{Pag* 100. 



102 THE MUFFLON. 

the theories of the learned. We can affirm also that 
the reunions breed "with the gazelle ; and a tame stag 
in the enclosure of our house killed two murllons 
which we possessed, from jealousy." 

" There are," says the author whom we have just 
quoted, " three methods of hunting the muffion : by 
caccia inutta, that is, by surprise. The hunters start 
some hours before daybreak to gain the heights which 
command the dales and mountain sides where the 
gamo is to be met with. Sometimes they bivouac 
the previous evening in the immediate neighbourhood, 
if the wind is favourable. At daybreak they place 
themselves on the look-out. The muffions do not 
move until the sun shines on their pasturage. If the 
weather is cloudy, they come out later, and are much 
more distrustful. 

" As soon as they are perceived, their position is 
marked, and the hunters creep near to them, often on 
their hands and knees, to protect themselves from all 
accidents of the ground, rocks, trees, or bushes. It is 
necessary to be to the windward, otherwise every other 
precaution would be useless ; they are off like lightning, 
before it is possible to get within range of them. By 
the greatest caution it is sometimes possible to get 
sufficiently near to shoot them with buckshot. It is 
always well to load one barrel with a ball, for distant 
firing, and when the game is still. 



THE MUFFL0N. 103 

" Whatever braggarts may assert — and they are not 
wanting, even in Corsica — when the mufflon has seen 
the hunter, it is by the merest chance that he can 
touch him with a ball. He darts like a flash through 
everything into the abyss ; and if he is wounded he 
takes refuge in inaccessible crevices, where he dies, and 
is soon devoured by the eagles and vultures. Often, 
after many hours, and even days of searching, they 
come upon him in the most impossible places, by 
means of ropes and ladders. 

u The most frequent method is to occupy the high 
mountain ridges, by which the mufllons fly the mo- 
ment they hear the least noise. Some beaters are 
stationed on the mountain sides, shoutiug and rolling 
down blocks of rock with a noise of thunder; and if 
we are posted to windward, we are not long in seeing 
the mufilons approach. 

" But the best sport that can be made is with one, 
two, or at most three of the dogs of the country, 
accustomed to the mountains and the game. 

" In winter the mufllons descend to where the snow 
fails, and they do not pass over that limit unless they 
are pursued. Ordinarily they are found on the wooded 
sides of the mountains, or on the open spaces between 
the great rocks. The hunters follow them into their 
retreat in the snow, or rather on the borders of it. 
This is very difficult, for the distance, the frost, and 



104 THE MUFFLON. 

the slipperiness of the descent, cause a delay of 
several hours in reaching the post of action. On 
attaining it, a man stationed at the foot of the 
mountain enters the wood with the dogs, and soon 
finds the game, which is not slow in giving up 
possession of the spot to him." 



CHAPTER VL 



This animal is found in the frozen regions of North 
America, and particularly — according to Hearne — in 
the neighbourhood of the polar circle. He is with- 
out a muzzle, which circumstance has induced Blanville 
to separate him from the ox species, and to classify 
him separately, under the name of Ovibos. He is 
small in size and very low on his legs, and covered 
with an enormous quantity of wool and dark-brown 
hair, which in winter reaches almost to the ground. 
On his back there is a whitish place, which is called 
the saddle. Large horns, flattened at the base, cover 
his head like a kind of casque ; they are enormous, 
and are said to weigh almost fifty pounds. It derives 
its name from the odour which its flesh exhales at 
certain epochs, and especially at the beginning of 
spring. This odour is so strong that it communi- 
cates itself to the knives with which the flesh is 



103 TIIE MUSK OX. 

cut up. Excepting in this season, and when the 
musk ox is fat, his flesh is excellent. 

He feeds on grass and rnoss during one part of 
the year, and on lichens during the other part. 

Notwithstanding the shortness of his limbs, he 
gallops with great speed, and the facility with which 
he climbs the mountains can only be compared to 
that of goats. 

In September the musk oxen assemble together 
in herds more or less numerous, not to emigrate, 
for Parry has killed many of them on Melville 
Island, but probably for mutual protection against 
the wolves, which abound in those parts. 

Lieutenant M. E. de Bray relates the following 
hunt of the musk ox, in a note communicated to 
VAcademie des Sciences: — ■ 

" When musk oxen are attacked by hunters, they 
assemble together, form a very compact phalanx, 
putting the young animals in • the centre, their hind 
quarters being directed towards the centre, and thus 
presenting their heads to the enemy in every direction. 
The males tear up the earth with their horns and 
fore feet, thus preparing themselves for the combat. 
One of them, the oldest of the herd, places himself 
in front, like a general at the head of his army, 
and advances cautiously to reconnoitre the enemy, 



THE MUSK OX. 107 

and watching attentively the least movement on the 
part of the hunters. 

" This survey being accomplished, he retires to his 
post and awaits the attack. Then it is that this 
animal appears in all his majestic beauty; and when 
the hunter finds himself for the first time in his 
presence, he must muster up his courage and 
strengthen his nerves. But although seemingly so 
terrible, these animals, either stupid or over-confi- 
dent in their strength, allow the hunters to approach 
within a short distance, and then at the first gun- 
shot the whole herd takes flight, abandoning the 
dead and the wounded. I have often seen five or 
six hunters destroy a herd of a score of them. On 
one occasion only have I seen one of these animals 
charge; it is true that the poor beast had twelve 
balls in his body, and being unable to fly, ho 
defended himself to the last moment." 

This last story scarcely accords with what Eoss 
relates : — 

A musk ox, in whose body he had lodged three 
balls, threw himself upon him, and the illustrious 
sailor owed his safety entirely to a large fragment 
of rock, behind which he took refuge, the animal's 
head coming in contact with it with prodigious 
force. 



108 THE MUSK OX. 

He was eaten raw by the Esquimaux, who on this 
occasion surpassed even themselves in gluttony. 

Filled, but still hungry, they extended themselves 
on the ground, with their hands full of meat, waiting 
tor a fresh void in their asophagus, which they at 
once replenished* 




\Pagtim 



CHAPTEK VII. 
C{f* (Straff*, 

It is to Le Vaillant that we owe our first exact ideas 
respecting the giraffe, 1783-5. 

With what a transport of joy he writes in describing 
the first giraffe which fell under his hand ! 

"Pain, fatigue, cruel want, uncertainty for the 
future, disgust sometimes for the past, all disappeared 
in presence of this new prey. I could not withdraw 
myself from contemplating it. I measured its enor- 
mous height. I looked with astonishment from the 
animal destroyed to the instrument which had de- 
stroyed him. I called my people to examine him over 
and over again ; and although each one of them could 
have done as much, and although we had slaughtered 
heavier and far more dangerous animals, yet I had 
been the first to kill this one; and I was about to 
enrich natural history, to destroy romance, and in 
my turn to establish a truth." 

This giraffe measured sixteen feet three inches from 
his hoofs to his head. In general the males measure 
from fifteen feet to fifteen feet six inches, and the 



110 THE GIRAFFE. 

females from thirteen to fourteen feet. They feed on 
the leaves of trees, particularly of the mimosa, and 
also on the herbage of the prairies, which they can 
browse without kneeling down, although the contrary 
has been stated. But they often lie down, either to 
ruminate or to sleep, from which cause a considerable 
callosity is formed on the sternum and on the knees. 
These animals are peaceable and timid, and in presence 
of any danger their first movement is to fly. They trot 
very swiftly, and a good horse can with difficulty keep 
pace with them. But what a singular gait ! perched at 
the extremity of a long neck, which works in a single 
piece from the shoulders, the head incessantly sways 
backwards and forwards, as if the animal were lame. 
When we see him in front, the anterior part of the 
body being much larger than the posterior, it is easy 
to fancy ourselves in front of the trunk of a dead tree. 
Although giraffes flee from danger, it is not cor- 
rect to say that they will make no resistance when the 
opportunity of flight is closed to them. It is true that 
their means of defence are but small. Their frontal 
horny protuberances do not appear to be of any 
assistance to them. Le Yaillant never saw them 
use them against his dogs ; but they have their 
feet, and they use them very courageously. The 
hind quarters are so light, and their kicks so rapid, 
that the eye cannot follow them ; and this means of 



THE GIRAFFE. Ill 

resistance lias succeeded perfectly, even against the 
lion himself. 

A Namaquois came one day in great haste to inform 
Le Yaillant that he had seen in the neighbourhood a 
giraffe browsing the leaves of a mimosa tree. 

"Full of joy, I instantly leapt upon one of my 
horses, and made Bemfry mount another, and followed 
by my dogs, I galloped towards the mimosa indicated ; 
but the giraffe was no longer there. We saw him 
crossing the plain on the western side, and we spurred 
on to overtake him. He was trotting along lightly, 
without, however, exerting himself unduly. We gal- 
loped after him, and from time to time fired several 
shots after him ; but imperceptibly he gained so much 
upon us, that after following him for three hours, we 
were forced to stop, our horses being quite blown, and 
we lost sight of him." 

This gives an idea of the swiftness of the giraffe. 

Another opportunity presented itself on the following 
day, on which occasion five giraffes were hunted during 
the whole day, but they effected their escape under 
cover of the night. 

At length, the following day w T as for M. Yaillant ono 
of the happiest of his life. 

" I started on a hunting expedition at daybreak, in 
the hope of finding some game for provisions. 

" After some hours' march, we perceived, on turning 



112 THE GIRAFFE. 

a little hill, seven giraffes, which my dogs at once 
attacked. Six of them took to flight together. The 
seventh, cut off by the dogs, started off in the opposite 
direction. 

" Bemfry at that moment was dismounted, and 
leading his horse by the bridle. In less than a 
twinkling he was in the saddle, and started in pursuit 
of the. first six. As for me, I followed the other at full 
gallop ; but in spite of the efforts of my horse, he soon 
gained so much upon me, that in turning a hill he 
disappeared from my sight and I gave up the pursuit. 

"Nevertheless, my dogs were not long in reaching 
him, and he was compelled to stop to defend himself. 

" From the place where I was I heard them giving 
tongue with all their might; and as their barking 
seemed always to proceed from the same spot, I conclu- 
ded that the animal was surrounded by them, and I 
immediately spurred on towards them. 

" In fact, I had scarcely turned round the knoll when 
I perceived him surrounded by the dogs, and endea- 
vouring by rapid kicks to keep them off. I at once dis- 
mounted, and a shot from my rifle brought him down. 

" Delighted with my victory, I returned to call my 
people to flay and cut up the animal. Whilst I was 
looking about me, I saw Klaas Barter, who, with an 
air of great earnestness, was making signs to me, 
which at first I could not comprehend. But, turning 



THE GIRAFFE. 113 

my eyes in the direction indicated by his hand, I 
perceived with surprise a giraffe, under a great ebony 
tree, assailed by my dogs. I thought this must be 
another one, and ran towards him. It was the same, 
which had got up, but which, just as I was about to 
fire a second time, fell down dead." 

This large game was becoming scarce, and the 
people of our traveller were almost dying of hunger. 
They shared the animal amongst themselves, first 
selecting for the master some choice bits, which he ate 
broiled, and which he found excellent. The thin bones 
placed on a brazier of hot coals furnished marrow as 
white and firm as mutton tallow, and was very appe- 
tizing. " I had never before seen any so fine, and I 
regretted much not having any bread to make toast 
with it. I had a certain quantity of it melted, with 
which I filled the giraffe's bladder ; and this provision 
served me for a long time in cooking cutlets from the 
same animal." 

But these material necessities could not make Le 
Vaillant iorget the interests of science. We shall be 
glad to learn the means which he adopted in the midst 
of a desert in central ALica to prepare the skin of the 
gigantic animal. 

" Klaas," he writes (his factotum), "had swept and 
levelled a piece of ground about twenty feet square 
I had the skin spread out there, with the hair under- 

I 



114 THE GIRAFFE. 

neath, the sides and corners being kept down with 
large stones. 

" I had to dry tho skin of my giraffe, to consume 
the grease, and to destroy all the causes of fermenta- 
tion, which might rot or damage it. With this design 
I had great fires made, in order to use the cinders. I 
spread these cinders on the skin, taking care that it 
was covered entirely, and quite equally. 

" It remained in this state during the whole night ; 
and, lest some hyaena should come to it, under the 
cover of the darkness, to devour the fragments, I 
pitched my tent quite close to my treasure. 

" The dissection of the head and the hoofs took me 
the whole afternoon of the following day, because I 
could not obtain, and, indeed, I did not wish any aid 
but that of Klaas. The hoofs cost me little trouble ; 
but it was not so with the head. We began upon this 
by raising the skin from the jaw-bones and cheeks, and 
by taking away the flesh from underneath, replacing it 
by tow, to preserve the form. The eyes were treated 
in the same manner ; after having taken out the globe 
of the eye, and dried its orbit with hot cinders, I filled 
the cavity with tow, in order to sustain the ej^elids. 

" The most difficult operation was the extraction of 
the brain, which in the giraffe is large ; and I was 
the more embarrassed because I desired to extract it 
without incision or fracture. At last I thought of 






THE GIRAFFE. 115 

sponging it out, so to speak, little by little. We 
managed to do this by the aid of a steel point, fur- 
nished at the end with bristles from the kros of my 
Hottentots ; and which, thus changed into a pencil, 
was introduced into the bony cavity of the cranium. 
I filled the empty cranium with hot cinders. As to 
the anterior part of the head, from the nostrils to the 
bony appendages, which in this animal form a kind 
of horns, I had nothing to do, because, not being 
fleshy, I had simply to dry it. 

" From time to time I renewed the cinders on the 
skin ; I even kept up great fires for many days to- 
gether, solely for the purpose of having these cinders. 
They operated at once by the combined action of their 
desiccative and alkaline property; and this method 
succeeded admirably." 

This skin was brought to Europe ; and Le Vaillant 
expressed his regret at not having an apartment suffi- 
ciently high to exhibit the animal, and to offer to 
amateurs a true model of what the animal is in nature. 

Let us transport ourselves now to the other extremity 
of Africa — Nubia. 

Five or six men, mounted on good horses, plunge 
into the desert, accompanied by camels carrying water 
and provisions. When they discover their prey they 
separate, and, shouting aloud, they manoeuvre in such a 
manner as to drive him towards a wood. The animal, 

i 2 



116 THE GIRAFFE. 

hoping to get out of their sight, is not slow in falling 
into the trap. He plunges in amongst the trees, seeks 
the thickest part of the wcod, but the bushes and the 
branches hindering his progress, the hunters gain upon 
him ; and, as if the natural obstacles were not enough, 
they stretch cords across the path of the giraffe. He 
falls, and they throw a halter over him. If he refuses 
to walk, they kill him, in order at least to obtain his 
skin. This is an extremity to which they are never 
reduced with the young ones : more docile than the 
adults, they follow the hunters, who sell them in the 
neighbouring villages. 

But the giraffe has other enemies besides man. 
There is the lion. 

If the giraffe is vigorous, he sometimes succeeds 
in escaping from him. A traveller relates having seen 
two whose shoulders bore indelible marks of their 
having carried the monarch of the forest on their 
backs, and that they had come off victorious from the 
struggle. The lion always endeavours to throw himself 
on the giraffe's back ; plunging his sharp claws into 
the shoulders, he gnaws before him until he reaches 
the vertebras of the neck, then the two animals fall 
together, and the lion is often maimed in the struggle ; 
and sometimes even worse luck befalls him. 

A young savage in South America, returning to his 
village, stopped at a spring to quench his thirst ; then 






THE GIRAFFE. 117 

lying down on the bank, he fell asleep. Awakened by 
the hot rays of the sun, he perceived through a bush a 
giraffe browsing on the leaves of a mimosa, and at a 
few yards' distance a lion, motionleso, watching the 
giraffe, and preparing to spring upon him. He at 
length made his spring, and, with a gigantic bound, 
threw himself towards the head of the animal. The 
giraffe quickly leaped aside, and so cleverly, that the 
lion fell on his back into the middle of a thorn-bush. 
The giraffe immediately scampered off, and the negro 
was not slow in imitating him, not doubting but that 
the lion would soon be on his footsteps. 

Some time afterwards eagles were seen wheeling 
round above the mimosa. On search being made 
the carcase of a lion was found, extended on a bed of 
thorns. 



CHAPTER VHI. 

Clje Wvcpx. 

Tapirs have the general form of the hog, hut they are 
distinguished from it at first sight hy a little fleshy 
prohoscis, susceptible of being lengthened out or with- 
drawn. This proboscis is not like that of the elephant, 
an organ of prehension. 

There are many species of the tapir. One called 
the American Tapir, is qpmmon enough in the hot 
countries of South America. Another is met with in 
the most elevated regions of the Cordilleras, and the 
Andes. A third inhabits the forests of the island of 
Sumatra, and the peninsula of Malacca. 

The American Tapir, seen on the borders of rivers, 
hides itself during the day in the midst of the thickest 
bushes, and seeks its food, which is entirely vegetable, 
at night. It has a preference for water-melons and 
citrons. It goes but a very small distance from the 
spot where it has established its dwelling. It is a very 
timid animal, and the least noise frightens it ; and it 
seeks out the most profound solitudes. 



THE TAPIR. 119 

Notwithstanding this wild disposition, it is tamed 
with the greatest facility — at least, if it is taken young. 
Its timidity soon makes way for the greatest fami- 
liarity. "It becomes tame from the first day," says 
d'Azara, " and goes all about the house without leaving 
it. Every one can touch it and stroke it — not that it 
prefers one to another, or obeys one more or less than 
another ; and if it is wished to get it out of a place, 
it becomes necessary to force it out. It does not bite ; 
and if it is inconvenienced in any way, it utters a 
shrill kind of whistle, quite disproportionate to its 
size. It drinks like the hog, and eats raw or cooked 
meat and food of all kinds, and whatever comes in its 
way — not excepting woollen rags or bits of silk. I 
have seen it many times gnawing my walking-stick ; 
and on one occasion it was doing the same to a silver 
snuff-box. It seems to be more gluttonous than the 
pig, and its sense of taste does not seem to enable it to 
distinguish one thing from another." 

A contemporaneous observer, M. Chabrillac, does 
not agree with d'Azara as to the indifference which, 
according to this latter, the tapir shows for the persons 
amongst whom it lives. " It loves the society of 
man," says M. Chabrillac, "attaches itself to all 
those who show it kindness, and exhibits a special 
predilection for children, whose sports it shares without 
ever doing them the least harm." 



120 THE TAPIE. 

He gives a very convincing proof of the attachment 
of the tapir: — "I have kept for two years a tapir 
which had heen taken when young on the banks of the 
Eio San Francisco. He passed all the time of his 
captivity in the court of a college frequented by two 
hundred scholars, with whom he played like the most 
intelligent dog, without ever offending even those who 
sometimes took pleasure in teasing him. When the 
hour of recreation arrived, he would appear delighted, 
showing his pleasure by leaping and racing about. If 
the scholars did not seem to be paying proper attention 
to him, he would go to excite and entice them to come 
and share in his gambols. But when he was too much 
tormented by his playfellows, far from seeking to 
defend himself by doing them any injury, he would 
run to take refuge in a trough filled with water for his 
use, and there, uttering a grunt of satisfaction, he 
appeared to set his persecutors at defiance, whilst they, 
tiring of the game, would leave him in repose, and 
soon give themselves to other sports. This interesting 
animal, which as a rule ate nothing but green herbs, 
had become accustomed to all kinds of nourishment. 
They gave him all the debris of the kitchen, which he 
ate without his health appearing to suffer in the least 
degree. He died of a wound in his leg, caused by a 
fall upon a broken bottle." 

An inhabitant of Santa-Maria-de-Belene (Para) pos- 



THE TAPIR. 121 

sessed a very familiar tapir. Having given him to 
the captain of one of the Brazilian coasting vessels, 
he took him himself on board. But when the tapir 
saw his master depart, he began to show signs of 
disquietude. At length, when the steam was getting 
up, the animal became furious, ran about from one side 
to the other, and having found a port-hole open, he 
threw himself into the sea, swam towards the coast, 
arrived there safe and sound, and went to find his 
master, who vowed he would never part with him 
again. 

They hunt the tapir by night, sometimes with dogs, 
sometimes by lying in wait for him in the water-melon 
grounds ; but as he has excellent sight, and a very 
sensitive ear, it is not easy to surprise him. 

If he can reach deep water he throws himself in, 
and remains a long time submerged, and reappears at 
a long distance from the pW.e where he plunged in. 
When there are woods in the immediate proximity, he 
throws himself into the thickest brakes, removing and 
breaking whatever comes in contact with his head, 
which he carries close to the ground. 

Those who hunt him with the gun, never stop him 
at once ; and d'Azara relates having seen one whose 
heart was pierced by two balls, and which before falling 
ran a distance of two hundred yards. Reduced to 
extremity, he kicks out his leers and seizes the dog 



122 THE TAPIR. 

by the back, and shakes them so vigorously that he 
lacerates their skin. 

It sometimes happens at daybreak that hunters 
on horseback encounter a tapir belated in the open 
country. The lasso soon stops him in his course, 
and his fate is sealed ; for although he is much 
swifter than at first sight he seems, he cannot for 
any length of time compete in speed with a horse. 

D'Azara says that the Indians of Paraguay eat 
the flesh of the tapir ; but he adds, that by no means 
proves that it is delicate; and Barren, in his " Histoire 
Naturelle de la France Equinoxiale" writes, "His 
flesh is coarse and of a disagreeable taste." "We have 
changed all that. 

" The flesh of the tapir," says M. Chabrillac, " is 
much esteemed in the country where I have had 
occasion to eat it very often, and I can assert that 
it yields in nothing, both for savour and nutritive 
qualities, to the best meat we have in Europe. When 
smoked, it keeps a long time, and acquires a flavour 
which would be appreciated by our most delicate 
gourmets," 

M. Victor Bataille writes from Guyana : — "I have 
often eaten the flesh of this animal. Without being 
delicate and of the first quality, it is good, and has 
nothing disagreeable to the taste. 

" It has also, since 1818, taken a very important 



THE TAPIR. 123 

place in the food of the colony, particularly of the 
labouring classes. 

"Before 1848 they did not hunt the tapir much. 
The Indians alone gave attention to this sport, 
because the Europeans and the slaves were occupied 
in other works. Since the emancipation the hunt 
has been taken up very actively and with success, 
not only amongst the Indians, but near the city, in 
the environs of which the animal is by no means 
rare. I have very frequently seen them killed at a 
distance of one or two leagues from the city. Not 
a week passes in which two or three are not brought 
in ; and these are cut up and sold retail, like butcher's 
meat. The price is from 5cl. to 6d. per pound, 
and its consumption is a real advantage to the 
colony." 

The pinchaque tapirs are those of the Cordilleras. 
They inhabit by preference the cold regions, whilst 
the lower region is frequented by the common tapir : 
otherwise their habits very much resemble those of 
the latter. In their nocturnal expeditions they 
ordinarily go in file, and thus form tracks across the 
woods, of which the hunters often avail themselves, 
and which the Indians pompously call royal routes. 

These beaten paths are found in regions between 
1,400 and 4,400 metres above the level of the sea. 
The pinchaques resort to lonely spots, where the soil 



124 THE TAPIE. 

is composed of a clayey kind of slate. This slate 
clay bears the mark of their teeth. 

D'Azara also reports that the common tapir eats 
nitrous earth, and says that he has found a great 
quantity in the stomach of one of these animals. 

Hunters are sure to find the pinchaques on these 
slate-clay spots a little before sunrise, provided they 
have not been disturbed, for they are very suspicious 
animals. They will abandon entirely a place near 
which the country people have laid snares, with all 
precaution possible, in which they hope to take 
them. 

An encounter with them is never dangerous, and 
we have only heard of three instances in which they 
have shown any signs of courage. 

A pinchaque pursued by dogs faced round upon 
them on reaching some water, and as this menacing 
attitude intimidated the first hunter who presented 
himself, the tapir ran at him, and threw him head 
over heels. 

The other instances are reported of two females, 
when accompanied by their young ones, which they 
thought to be in danger. They each upset her man. 
One of these men had taken the liberty of touching 
the young tapir with his umbrella. 

Once in the water, the pinchaque remains there as 
long as he fancies that he is pursued. 



THE TAPIR. 125 

It is related of one, that rather than quit the 
stream, he allowed himself to he killed with large 
stones, which the hunter dropped on his head. 

One morning at eight o'clock, at the foot of the 
Peak of Thoma, on the shore of the Combaymee, in 
a place situated at 1,918 metres above the sea-level, 
and called las Juntas, M. Goudot started up a young 
female pinchaque, which threw itself immediately into 
the water. Surrounded by dogs, which for the most 
part kept to the shore, the animal remained for a 
long time motionless in the midst of the torrent, 
confining itself to lifting its trunk now and then 
above the water, and uttering cries which the 
noise of the stream and the barking of the dogs 
almost drowned. The dogs, which, in order to reach 
it, had plunged into the water above the place where 
the pinchaque was, were for the most part submerged, 
but they were not otherwise hurt. The pinchaque 
came to the top of the water with the greatest 
facility. A ball passed through its aorta, near the 
heart. After this mortal blow, it had sufficient 
strength to cross the stream. 

The flesh of this animal is red, like that of the 
bear, and is excellent eating. 



CHAPTER IX. 



Sparrman, accompanied by some farmers and Hot- 
tentots, had gone for the second time to hunt the 
hippopotamus : his first attempt had proved unsuccess- 
ful. This new enterprise took place in the night, and 
the method adopted was that of lying in ambush. 

Our adventurers were divided, in order to multiply 
the chances of an encounter. Sparrman, accompanied 
by two colonists, father and son, was posted on a dry 
portion of the bed of a river inhabited by hippopotami. 
A European, and the son-in-law of one of the colo- 
nists, occupied a second post, and the natives a third. 
Sparrman and his two companions had behind them 
the banks of the water-course, which at that spot were 
very high. The ground was level, and the night 
sufficiently bright. Moreover, they were on the path 
made by the hippopotami. All the chances were 
therefore in favour of the hunters. They sat down 
and waited. Sparrman, tormented by mosquitoes, had 



THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 127 

covered his face with his pocket-handkerchief, and, half 
asleep, was philosophising on the holdness of three 
frail individuals awaiting "the hehemoth of the 
prophet Joh," and on the impudence of the insects 
which were attacking such heroes. 

Suddenly, a hippopotamus came out of the river 
with the swiftness of an arrow, and dashed into the 
path, uttering a horrible cry. " Heer Jesus/ 11 cries 
the farmer, firing off his gun ; at the roar of the 
beast the European and the colonist's son-in-law fled. 
Sparrman himself had not heard the shot, nor had he 
seen the beast, — or rather, in the darkness he mistook 
him for a waterspout, caused by a sudden overflow of 
the river. He threw down his gun, abandoned his 
two companions, and rushed desperately to a point high 
enough to escape the water, knocking himself uselessly 
against the bluff bank of the river. Astonished that he 
was not submerged, he asked himself if it was not all a 
dream? He ran to the farmer's son, whom he found 
asleep with his fists closed, and snoring lustily, and 
then to the father, who, entangled in a blanket with 
which he had enveloped his limbs, was tremblingly en- 
deavouring to disengage himself. "What direction has 
the flood taken ? " asked Sparrman. He stood speechless 
for a short time. "Are you become a fool ?" he said at 
last. Sparrman retorted. In fact he was not con- 
vinced of his error until he saw that the farmer's gun 



123 THE HIPPOPOTAMUS, 

was discharged. Happily, the shot — the flash rather 
than the ball — had caused the animal to turn round and 
plunge into the water as precipitately as he had come 
out of it. Hero the hunt finished. Our Nimrods 
passed the rest of the night in laughing at each other, 
and smoked their pipes whilst listening to the roaring 
of the lions. 

This is all ridiculous enough ; hut at all events one 
Bees here pictured with naivete the impressions of a 
novice who for the first time found himself in the 
presence of a hippopotamus. 



II. 

An encounter with him on land is not without peril. 
An instance is related of a hippopotamus which pur- 
sued a native for a long time, who escaped from him 
with the greatest difficulty. But it is only in cer- 
tain critical moments, when beasts ordinarily timid 
become dangerous, that the hippopotamus, unprovoked, 
shows any aggressive disposition ; it is otherwise 
when ho has been provoked and wounded, — then he 
charges upon the hunter with all his force. Where, 
however, the species has been subjected to a long and 
active persecution, they lose all self-confidence ; this 
is always the case where firearms are generally used. 
In a locality where the introduction of firearms was 



THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 129 

still recent, a native fired on a hippopotamus, which 
he missed, when the latter seized him in his jaws 
and literally cut him in two. There is less exposure 
to unpleasantness of this kind when the animal is 
attacked from behind, seeing that he is so very slow in 
turning round ; and the negroes usually avail them- 
selves of this circumstance. 



m. 

Hippopotami live partly in the water and partly on 
land. They are only found in Africa, in the Nile and 
in most of the rivers which empty into the Atlantic 
and Indian Oceans. They abound chiefly south of the 
equator and in the interior of Africa. They live in 
herds during the day, in water, where they sleep and 
yawn, elevating their muzzles from time to time above 
the water ; at night they come on land to feed, taking 
always the same path in going and coming. In walk- 
ing their legs are so short and their paunch so volu- 
minous, that it almost sweeps the ground. The water 
is their true home. They are seen descending to the 
bottom, walking and even running on the mud, rooting 
up the long grasses with their hooked teeth. Salt, in 
s Abyssinia, saw them walking at the bottom of the Ta- 
cage, at a depth of twenty feet. Ere long they ascend 
to the surface, raise their heads out of the water, and 

K 



130 THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 

respire obstreperously, spouting from their nostrils a 
column of water to the height of five feet ; but they 
only do this in localities where they have not been 
disturbed — on the Zambesi, for example. Elsewhere, 
and particularly in the rivers of Londa, where active 
warfare has taught them prudence, they only bring 
their nostrils to the air, and breathe so gently that 
their presence would not be suspected were it not be- 
trayed by their footmarks on the shore. The females, 
when they have little ones very young, come more fre- 
quently to the surface than others, because their nurs- 
lings cannot remain under the water so long a time as 
adults. These little ones cling at first to the neck of 
their mother, then on her back, and soon they follow 
her to the pasturage. 



IV. 

One morning Sparrman saw a female with her calf 
advancing towards him on land ; the calf was lame, 
and was walking slowly. The mother received a ball 
in her side, and threw herself into the water. The 
young one was taken and secured ; he made a great 
noise, somewhat like a pig when he is being killed. 
The hunters were very fearful that at these cries the 
mother would come out of the river, as had happened 
to Le Vaillant, who had shot a young hippopotamus 



( or, -|...r 



r,;,^<rw^yrvv\]pmvriK r *r-'T' l ~ 



I 






■'iiiiii, 




THE HIFPOPOTAMUS. 131 

and broken its thigh. " But we had scarcely reached 
it," he writes, " than at a few yards distance, on the 
river bank, the mother showed herself, and with fear- 
ful roars ran towards us, her terrible jaws wide open. 
This sudden and unexpected apparition so terrified us, 
that we thought of nothing but flying as quickly as 
possible; and to prevent any impediment to our speed 
we even threw down our rifles. For my part, I did 
not hesitate a moment in doing so with mine, which, 
being discharged, was useless. The mother, having 
recovered her young one, did not attempt to follow us, 
but returned with it peaceably into the water; and 
her retreat permitted us to go and pick up our guns." 
Eeturning to Sparrman and his captive : this calf 
was three feet six inches long and two feet high. Ac- 
cording to the conjectures of the Hottentots, it could 
not be more than two or three weeks old. It soon 
showed signs of a disposition to sociability; but the 
Hottentots, who have a special liking for its flesh — 
which, in fact, is agreeable and wholesome, and very 
like beef — did not give him time to become perfectly 
tame. 



V. 

The lameness of the young hippopotamus mentioned 
above leads us to say, that it is very common to find 

k 2 



132 THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 

amongst the animals of this species individuals bearing 
the traces of considerable wounds. It frequently hap- 
pens, indeed, that they fight furiously. A traveller was 
witness to a duel between two males, which he records 
thus : — 

" It was broad day ; and, hidden on the river bank, 
I had been watching for some time the gambols of 
a herd of these animals, when all of a sudden two of 
the largest rose to the surface, and rushed at each 
other. Their great and hideous jaws were extended 
wide open, their eyes flaming with rage, each one 
seeming bent on the destruction of his enemy. They 
seized each other with their jaws ; they stabbed and 
punched with their strong tusks — by turns advancing 
and retreating, now at the top of the water and some- 
times at the bottom of the river. The waves were 
stained with their blood, and their furious roars were 
frightful to listen to. They showed very little tact in 
their movements, but on the other hand they exhibited 
piggish obstinacy in maintaining, their ground, and 
frightful savageness in their demeanour. The combat 
lasted for an hour. Evidently they were mutually ope- 
rating upon armour too hard to admit of their wounds 
being very dangerous. At last one of them turned his 
back on his enemy and went away, leaving the other 
victorious and master of the .field of battle." 



THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 133 

VI. 

Notwithstanding the abundance of hippopotami in 
certain water-courses, instances of aggression on their 
part are very rare. 

Mr. Moffat, whilst crossing a river, was pursued by a 
furious hippopotamus, snorting terribly. It may be 
said, in passing, that the snorting of males can be 
heard at a distance of a mile. Our traveller escaped 
with very great difficulty, and if he had been an instant 
longer in reaching the bank, he would have been a dead 
man. 

Ordinarily canoes circulate in the midst of them 
without being disturbed. A European was sailing on 
a river, amongst a number of hippopotami. The 
canoe passed over one of them. The animal moved 
away, uttering a significant growl. 

A short time ago we read the following, in the 
recent correspondence of a traveller in Egypt : — 

"We remarked on the ground numerous traces of 
the steps of hippopotami. It was evident that we 
were in a part much frequented by them. We soon 
noticed on the river a kind of black floating island ; 
it was the back of an immense hippopotamus. We 
afterwards saw a second and less voluminous one. 
Our boats were now approaching, and when they 
passed near the two backs, the sailors shouted in a 



134 THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 

peculiar manner, and we saw the hippopotamus first 
plunge, and then make a sudden spring almost out 
of the water, exhibiting the body, even to the hind 
legs. They explained to us that this was a family of 
hippopotami, which was taking its promenade in the 
river, and that the mother, believing her young ones 
were attacked by the boats, had thus elevated herself 
above the water to see her enemies, and if needful to 
defend herself." 

Here is another picture, taken from the banks of 
the Kafoue, which is rich in hippopotami : — 

" In the ignorance of firearms in which they live, 
these hippopotami are so little timid that they pay 
not the least attention to us ; the young ones, not 
much larger than turnspits, and mounted on their 
mothers' necks, look at us between their ears, and do 
not appear in the least disturbed by our presence." 

This is the case most frequently ; here, however, is 
a slight variation : — 

"About mid-day a hippopotamus struck against 
the front of our canoe, and almost capsized it. The 
force of the blow precipitated Mashaouana into the 
river; the rest, of whom I was one, made for the 
shore, which was about fifteen yards off. The hippo- 
potamus remained on the surface of the water, looking 
curiously at the canoe, as if forming an estimate of 
the amount of damage she had done. It was a 



THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 135 

female whose young one had been killed the evening 
before with a javelin. "We were eight in the canoe, 
and the violence of the shock which she had given us 
was ample proof to each of us of the enormous 
strength of the animal which had produced it. Except 
Mashaouana's ducking, and the bath which all had 
to take, no other damage was done by the accident. 
It is such a rare thing to be attacked by one of these 
animals, when the precaution is taken of sailing near 
the shore, that my companions cried spontaneously, 
• The beast is mad ! ' " 

Here is another, and still more marked instance. 
M. Knoblecher, head of the Austrian Catholic Mission 
on the White Kiver, reports, that in one of his voyages 
his boat separated a female hippopotamus from hei 
young ones. The mother in a fury rose above the 
water, just at the same moment that M. Knoblecher' s 
cook was leaning the upper part of his body over the 
side: the poor fellow was seized, and disappeared 
under the waves, carried away by the enormous beast. 

It is not the less true that the principal danger 
incurred by travellers is not to be imputed to intention 
on the part of the hippopotamus. 

The most frequent risk is that of being capsized 
by the pressure of an animal, in rising from tho 
bottom to the surface without crying " Lcok out ;" still 
it most frequently happens that the sailors come oil 



136 THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 

at worst with a ducking. Sometimes, nevertheless, 
the pachydermatous brute returns in a fury, and 
destroys the capsized boat. 



VII. 

We have said that in its nocturnal movements the 
hippopotamus constantly follows the same path. The 
hunters profit by the custom, and this is the way they 
take them in the Soudan : — 

Two of the party stand near the path, in the most 
likely spot ; they are armed with lances, with a hook 
at the end like a fish hook, to which is attached a cord 
eight or ten yards long, at the other end of which is 
a wooden float ; others go in front of the animal where 
he feeds. They frighten him by shouting, beating 
drums, and brandishing lighted torches. The alarmed- 
hippopotamus returns to the river, and the nearest 
hunter throws his barbed javelin into his flanks. The 
wounded animal carries the dart into the water, and 
the very rapidity with which he flies contributes to 
increase his wound by the resistance of the float. 

This piece of wood, which floats on the surface, also 
enables the hunter to watch the evolutions which the 
amphibious animal performs under the water. Never- 
theless, it sometimes happens that it is difficult to 
follow it in the night-time. To overcome this incon- 



THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 137 

venience as much as possible, the hunters divide 
themselves into several groups, and if they lose the 
animal during the night, they easily find him in the 
daytime. The hippopotamus, exhausted by his 
struggles, by loss of blood, and want of food, soon 
comes to die near the shore, unless the hunters in 
their boats have in the meantime killed him with the 
lance; but it sometimes happens that he drags a 
float for many days, especially when the harpoon has 
been badly planted. M. Tremaux one day encoun- 
tered a hippopotamus thus pierced. 

•' Whilst we were still being towed by the people 
of Lony, I heard a shout, ' The hippopotamus ! the 
hippopotamus ! * I surveyed the liquid surface, ex- 
pecting to see the monstrous head and back of the 
animal; and I was astonished not to see anything. 
•I observed on the water a kind of Greek cross, 
formed by two short pieces of wood strongly fixed 
and bound together in the centre. This cross was 
cutting through the water, and floating swiftly clown 
the stream, making the water foam, as if moved by 
some invisible power. As it neared us the float ap- 
peared to be agitated in an extraordinary degree, and 
at the same time a formidable snorting, mingled 
with the noise of the rippling water, was heard close 
to the boat. We perceived a hippopotamus, which, 
frightened by the boat, near which he unexpectedly 



138 THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 

found himself, gave a great spring half out of the 
water, and then plunged in again, dragging the float 
with great fury. 

" A short time afterwards some men hailed us 
from the shore, inquiring if we had seen the hunted 
water ox." 

In Ahyssinia they hunt the hippopotamus with 
guns. Salt gives an account of one of these hunts, 
which was not a very successful one. 

" Placed on an elevated and prominent rock, we 
were not long in perceiving, at a distance of about 
sixty feet, a hippopotamus, which, without any signs 
of fear, exhibited his enormous head above the water, 
and sniffing violently somewhat in the manner of a 
porpoise. Three of us fired at him, and he was 
thought to be struck in front ; he looked up, groaning 
and roaring angrily, and immediately plunged. We 
expected to see his body floating on the surface of the 
water, but he reappeared at the same place more 
cautiously, and without appearing to be at all dis- 
concerted by what had already happened to him. 

"We fired again, with no more success than at 
first. We continued to fire on many other animals > 
but I am not certain that any one of them was wounded. 
Our leaden balls were too soft to penetrate the skulls 
of these great animals — they continually rebounded. 
Nevertheless, towards evening they became more cir- 



THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 139 

cunispect ; they confined themselves to merely exposing 
their nostrils above the water, spouting it into the air 
by the force of their breathing." 

The most common mode of hunting in South 
Africa is also with the rifle. In the regions visited 
by Le Vaillant, Sparrman, and Livingstone, they 
also dig pits in the paths followed by the animal. 
M. du Chaillu tells us, on the contrary, that the 
employment of this trap is unknown on the Gaboon. 

He thus relates one of his hunts : — 

" There was here a place in the river shallow 
enough for them to stand in and play around; and 
here they remained all day, playing in the deep 
water or diving, but for the most part standing on 
the shallow, with only their ugly noses pointed out 
of the water, and looking for all the world exactly 
like so many old weatherbeaten logs stranded on 
a sand-bar. We approached slowly and with caution 
to within thirty yards of the school, without seeming 
to attract the slightest attention from the sluggish 
animals : stopping there, I fired five shots, and, so 
far as I could see, killed three hippopotami. The 
ear is one of the most vulnerable spots, and this 
was my mark every time. The first shot was 
received with but little attention, but the struggles 
of the dying animal, which turned over several times 
and finally sank to the bottom, seemed to rouse the 
herd, who began to plunge about and dive down into 



140 THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 

deep water. The blood of my victims discoloured 
the water all round, and we could not see whether 
those which escaped were not swimming for us. 

" Presently the boat received a violent jar, and look- 
ing overboard, we perceived that we were in the midst of 
the herd. They did not, however, attack us, but were 
rather, I imagine, anxious to get away. We, too, pulled 
out of the way as fast as we could, as I was not anxious 
to be capsized. Of the dead animals we recovered but 
one, which was found two days after on a little island 
on the river's mouth. I think it likely that the negroes 
secretly ate up the others as they washed ashore, fear- 
ing to tell me lest I should claim the prizes. 

" I afterwards determined to go on a night hunt after 
hippopotami. "VVe lay down under shelter of a bush 
and watched. As yet none of the animals had come 
out of the water. We could hear them snorting and 
plashing in the distance, the subdued snort-like roars 
breaking in upon the still night in a very odd way. 
The moon was nearly down, and the watch was getting 
tedious, when I was startled by a sudden groan, and 
peering into the half-light, saw dimly a huge animal 
looking doubly monstrous in the uncertain light. It 
was quietly eating grass, which it seemed to nibble off 
quite close. 

" Igala and I both took aim; he fired, and without 
waiting to see the result ran away as swiftly as a good 
pair of legs could carry him. I was not quite ready, 



THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 141 

but fired the moment after him ; and before I could get 
ready to run, in which I had not Igala's practice, I saw 
there was no need to do so ; the beast tottered for a 
moment, and then fell over dead." 

These results are very different from the ineffective 
shots of Sparrman. 

Le Vaillant, met with success equal to that of M. du 
Chaillu. An old Namaquois spoke to him one day of 
the trouble he was in. 

"He was only a short distance from the river. 
Hippopotami swarmed there ; his companions and he 
had wished to take some from time to time for their 
food; but although they had dug pits and laid traps 
along the shore, they had only succeeded in taking 
three animals during the two years they had dwelt 
in the canton. 

" The animals, he said, were too sharp for them ; 
and he did not doubt but that, with my guns, the effect 
of which he had heard, I might kill as many as I 
pleased. 

" My plan was to start in the afternoon of the 
same day, to pass the night near the river, and to 
begin the hunt on the following day at dawn. I took 
with me all my hunters. A detachment of the horde 
followed me, with some baggage oxen to carry the 
produce of our sport ; and at day break we were all in 
active motion. 

" One half of the troop crossed the river by swim- 



142 THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 

ming, whilst the other half remained on my side 
When the swimmers reached the other shore they 
separated into two bands, one of which went up the 
river, at a short distance from it, and the other 
descended. The same was done on my side. The 
four hands thus embraced three-fourths of the river 
space ; I alone remained in my place in the centre of 
the hunters. At a given signal all had orders to leave 
their posts slowly and to come towards me, some 
shouting as loud as they could, others firing their guns 
at intervals, in order to drive up any hippopotami 
that might be found in that space of the river to 
within range of my gun. They encountered eight, and 
all the bands of hunters being reunited in one common 
centre, nothing further was w r anted but patience and 
dexterity. 

"Ina short time we w T ounded several of them. Two 
were already dead, and the people of the horde were 
transported with joy. But some amongst them having 
swum out in order to bring to land the two dead 
beasts, one of the swimmers received from a wounded 
hippopotamus a blow with his snout, and another had 
his thigh ripped open by his tusk. This double acci- 
dent made me fearful of something worse happening. 
I recalled my people, and, to the great regret of the 
Namaquois, I terminated a hunt which all said ought 
to have been more successful, but which could not bo 
continued without very great peril." 






CHAPTER X, 

One traveller says that the sight of a rhinoceros is 
sufficient to put a lion to flight. Another, without con- 
tradicting the first, says that the rhinoceros makes the 
lion fly like a cat ; and a third writes, — " He kills even 
the elephant, hy tearing open his belly with his tusk." 
A fourth says, — " Men are the only enemies whom 
he fears, and this fear ceases when he is wounded or 
pursued." 

Listen again to another one : — " He is at once a 
traitor and an aggressor whom nothing frightens, and 
a furious brute whom all resistance only renders the 
more implacable." This animal inhabits both Asia 
and Africa. 

There are always degrees of character, and thus it 
appears that the white rhinoceros is relatively gentle 
and confiding. This mildness, however, must not be 
exaggerated. A white rhinoceros, having been 
wounded by Mr. "Oswell, threw both horse and rider 
into the air with one blow of its tusk. 



144 THE RHINOCEROS. 

What might one expect after that from the polite- 
ness of the black rhinoceros ? 

Dr. Livingstone writes : — " Mr. Oswell was once 
stalking two of these animals, and as they came 
slowly to him, he, knowing that there is but little 
chance of hitting the small brain of this animal by a 
shot in the head, lay, expecting one of them to give 
his shoulder, till he was within a few yards. 

" The hunter then thought that by making a rush to 
his side he might succeed in escaping ; but the rhino- 
ceros, too quick for that, turned upon him, and, though 
he discharged his gun close to the animal's head, he 
was tossed in the air. My friend was insensible for 
some time, and on recovering found large wounds on 
the thigh and body. I saw that on the former part 
still open, and five inches long.'' 

Mr. Moffat having brought clown a black rhinoceros, 
the natives threw themselves on the beast, shouting 
with joy ; twelve lances at once penetrated the sides of 
the victim. The punctures reanimated him; he sprang 
up in an instant, and, tearing up the earth with his 
horn after his fashion, rushed upon his conquerors, 
who promptly showed him their heels. 

The rhinoceros is, after the elephant, the largest 
mammiferous animal known on the earth. The name 
is derived from two Greek words, which might be trans- 
lated horn on the nose. It is well known, in fact, that 



THE RHINOCEROS. 145 

the frontal nasal region is surmounted, in adults, with 
one or two horns, according to the species. 

They live on vegetables, and their dental system is 
perfectly suited to this kind of food. Their neck is so 
short, and so little flexible, that they are much less 
fond of grass than of browsing the leaves of branches 
within their reach, which their very mobile and 
triangular pointed upper lip easily seizes According 
to Chardin, the Abyssinians tame the rhinoceros, and 
make him work like an ox. 

It rarely happens that more than four or five are 
met with at once, and it is pretty well to encounter 
one. They are hunted on account of their flesh, which 
is considered a great treat by the savages. 

In Nubia they hunt him on horeseback, the men 
being entirely naked. 

They throw themselves on him, and irritate without 
being able to wound him. 

In spite of their dexterity and the agility of their 
horses they do not always escape the blows of their 
formidable enemy. The infuriated animal pursues his 
assailants. Then one of them detaches himself from 
his companions, and pretends to wait for him. The 
rhinoceros turns his rage on this one, and abandons 
the other hunters, who, moving off rapidly, seek a 
favourable place near some large tree, chosen before- 
hand. 

L 



146 THE KHINOCEHOS. 

"When the horseman who had remained behind, 
engaged with the animal, supposes that his comrades 
have attained their retreat, he starts off like a dart, 
reaches the foot of the tree indicated, leaps from his 
horse, which gallops off, and climbs swiftly up the 
branches. 

The rhinoceros, which has followed him, dashes 
furiously against the tree, as if he meant to upset 
it, and strikes his horn deeply into it. But whilst he 
is making unheard of efforts to disengage himself, the 
hunters in ambush fall on him and kill him with their 
lances. As to the horse, he stands still when he finds 
that he is no longer pursued, and, attracted by the 
neighing of his companions, he is not slow in rejoining 
them. 

The rhinoceros, when attacked, takes voluntarily, 
as we have seen, a tree for a hunter, and discharges 
his rage on the former. Livingstone attributes this 
blundering to the fact of the horn being so placed 
as to obstruct the line of vision ; and he gives as . a 
proof that the variety named Kua-baobo, having the 
horn projecting downwards, and therefore not inter- 
fering with the sight, was able to be much moro 
wary than its neighbours. Be this as it may, the 
eye at all events is very small, and sunk in the 
head. On the other hand, the senses of hearing 
and smell are very subtle; at the least noise the 



THE RHINOCEROS. 147 

animal takes alarm, pricks its ears, rises up, and 
listens, that is, if he is not asleep, for his sleep 
is very heavy. 

This has heen contradicted, hut Sparrman relates 
as follows : — " Two of our Hottentot marksmen per- 
ceived through the hushes, at a distance of three or four 
yards, a rhinoceros, lying on his right side, and 
sleeping so profoundly, that he did not wake up 
even at the loud noise which they made by chance 
in striking the guns one against the other. Their 
first movement was to take aim at him; hut as 
he did not awake, and as they could only see the 
hack part of his body, after a short consultation 
they made a circuit, and placing themselves in a 
position to point their guns towards the animal's 
head, they discharged their two barrels at once into 
his brisket. 

" As the animal struggled somewhat feebly, they had 
little fear that he would as yet wake up and pursue 
them; then, as much for their amusement as pre- 
caution, they recharged their guns and fired several 
balls into him." 

Le Vaillant says that two rhinoceroses had stopped 
side by side in a plain at a little distance from his 
camp ; he started at once, accompanied by his men. 

" One of the two being much larger than the 
other, I took them to be male and female. 

l 2 



148 THE KHIN0CER0S. 

"They were holding their noses to the wind, and 
consequently presented their croups to us. 

"It is a habit of these quadrupeds, when thus 
stopping, to place themselves to windward, in order 
to be warned by scent of any enemies they have to 
fear. Occasionally, they turn the head to cast a 
glance behind, to watch for their safety, but it is 
simply a glance, and the affair of an instant. 

"We were discussing the disposition to be made 
for the attack, when Jonker, one of my Hottentots, 
begged me to allow him to attack the beasts alone. 
I permitted him to do so. He stripped naked and 
departed, carrying his gun with him, and crawling 
on his belly like a serpent. 

"During this time I placed my hunters in the 
posts they were to occupy, whilst I remained where 
I was with two Hottentots — the one held my horse 
and the other the dogs. We were all three con- 
cealed behind a bush. I had in my hand an opera- 
glass, with which I had often watched the jeu des 
machines, and the effect of theatrical decorations : 
but the objects were changed now! At this moment 
it exhibited to mo two frightful monsters, turning 
their hideous heads now on this side, now on that. 
Soon their movements of observation and of fear 
became more frequent, and I feared lest they might 
have heard the motions of my dogs, which, having 



THE RHINOCEROS. 149 

perceived them, were struggling to escape from their 
keeper, and to rush towards them. 

" Jonker, on his part, continued to advance, though 
slowly, keeping his eyes fixed on the two animals, 
and becoming suddenly motionless the instant they 
turned their heads in his direction. His crawling, 
with all its interruptions, lasted for an hour. At 
length I saw him direct his movements towards a 
great tuft of milk-wort, which was within about 
200 yards of the rhinoceroses. 

"Arrived there, and sure of being well concealed, 
he arose, and after turning his eyes on all sides, to 
see that his comrades were at their posts, he pre- 
pared to fire. 

"During the whole time of his crawling I had 
followed him with my eyes, and in proportion as 
he advanced, I felt my heart palpitate involuntarily. 
But the palpitation redoubled when I saw him so 
close to the animals, and on the point of firing at 
one of them. "What would I not have given at that 
moment to have been in Jonker's place, or at least 
beside him ! I waited with the most vivid impatience 
for the shot to be fired, and I could not conceive 
what prevented his firing; but the Hottentot who 
was by my side, and who with his naked eye could 
distinguish him as perfectly as I with my lorgnette, 
said that if Jonker did not fire, it was because he was 



150 THE RHINOCEROS. 

waiting for one of the rhinoceroses to turn, that he 
might aim at his head. 

"At last, the largest of the two having turned 
his head in our direction, he fired. 

"Wounded with the shot, he uttered a frightful 
cry, and, followed by the female, ran with fury 
towards the place whence the noise had come. A 
cold perspiration came over me, for I expected to 
see the two monsters break through the bush, crush 
under their feet the unhappy Jonker, and tear him 
in pieces; but he had thrown himself flat on the 
ground, and the ruse succeeded perfectly. They 
passed near him without seeing him, and came 
straight towards me. 

"Then my agony was turned into joy, and I 
prepared to receive them. But the dogs, already 
excited by the gun-shot which they had heard, 
became so maddened at their approach, that being un- 
able to hold them, I unloosed them and let them 
on them. 

"At this sight they took a turn, and made off in 
the direction of one of the ambuscades, where they 
underwent another firing; then in a third direction, 
where again they were met with another shot. My 
dogs harassed them beyond measure, which still in- 
creased their rage. They kicked at them furiously, — 
they tore up the plain with their horns, and ploughed 



THE RHINOCEROS. 151 

up furrows seven or eight inches deep, throwing around 
them a shower of stones and pebbles, 

"During this time we were all approaching, in 
order to make as close a circle round them as pos- 
sible, and to bring all our forces against them. 
This multitude of enemies with which they saw 
themselves surrounded, threw them into inexpres- 
sible fury. Suddenly the male stopped, and ceasing 
to fly before the dogs, turned upon them to attack 
and rip them up. But whilst he was pursuing them 
the female got away. 

" I was not sorry for this flight, which was indeed 
much in our favour, for it is certain, that in spite 
of our number and our arms, two such formidable 
enemies would have very much embarrassed us. I 
must even acknowledge that without my dogs we 
should not have been able to encounter the risks 
and perils of the one remaining. The traces of 
blood which he left on his path told us that he 
had received more than one woun<l, which only 
served to increase his rage. 

" Nevertheless, after some time occupied in making 
his furious attack, he beat retreat, and seemed to 
wish to gain some bushes, apparently to support him- 
self, and that he might be harassed in front only. I 
divined his ruse, and with the design of preventing 
it, I ran towards the bushes, making signs to the 



152 THE RHINOCEROS. 

two hunters nearest to me to go there also. He 
was not more than thirty yards from us when we 
gained the post, then all three facing him at the 
pame time, we fired, and he fell, without being able 
to rise agai" 



CHAPTER XI. 

Many Indians imagine that a human soul dwells in 
the elephant's hody. In Siam and in Pegu white ele- 
phants are regarded as the living manes of Indian 
emperors. These animals, exempt from all service, live 
in palaces, are served by numerous domestics, eat the 
choicest food out of golden vessels, and are clothed 
with magnificent ornaments. They must not bend their 
knees, except before the emperor, who returns their 
salute. Notwithstanding so much adulation, they re- 
main gentle and obedient. If the Indians would take 
the trouble to reflect, this last circumstance would 
demonstrate to them that elephants are not animated 
by human inspiration. They are but beasts, in fact, 
but they are the wisest of all beasts. None surpass 
them either in intelligence, address, strength, or doci- 
lity; none leave in the hands of the hunter a spoil 
more choice or prrecious ; and hence the motives for 
which man declares war on them. 

In India the hunting of the elephant has for its end 



154 THE ELEPHANT. 

sometimes to make prisoners, and sometimes to obtain 
ivory. In South Africa the latter is always the object 
in view ; and for the reason that in India the elephant 
is employed in war, in hunting, and in a variety of 
works, whilst in Africa he is not so employed at the 
present day ; besides, the species in this latter region is 
much smaller and weaker than in the other. 

There are two species, the Indian and African. The 
Indian elephant has a concave forehead, small tusks 
and ears, teeth formed in serrated laminse, the number 
of which rise to twenty-six ; five nails to the fore-feet, 
and four to the hind-feet. It is found all over the con- 
tinent, from the Indus to the Eastern sea, and in the 
great islands of Southern Asia. 

The African elephant has a rather convex forehead, 
large tusks, which attain eight feet in length; ears 
so vast that they cover a large part of the shoulder. 
The teeth are formed of ten laminaB only ; four claws 
to the fore-feet, and three to the hind-feet. It is found 
from Senegal and the Niger to the Cape of Good 
Hope. 

The two species live in large herds in solitary forests. 
One male conducts the herd. When danger menaces 
them he takes the lead, the females and the young fol- 
low. They never attack man or any animal ; but when 
provoked, they defend themselves with intrepidity, and 
their weight, their speed, and their tusks, make them 



THE ELEPHANT. 155 

the most redoubtable adversaries that a hunter could 
encounter. 



H. 

There is, however, an exception to what has just been 
said as to the inoffensive character of the elephant. 
As the male who conducts a herd never allows a rival 
to approach it, there exists a certain number of solitary 
old boys, who are sometimes most wicked brutes. At 
certain seasons they become quite furious, and during 
a week or two they kill whatever they encounter. 

Captain Duhlop gives some instances. He tells us 
specially of a solitary elephant in the Doon, known by 
the name of Gunesh, which belonged to the Government 
Commissariat. Having killed his keeper, he fled to the 
jungles, carrying, fastened to his leg, a fragment of the 
chain which had served to attach him. It was there- 
fore easy to recognize him, and he is said to have killed 
fifteen persons in fifteen years. 

A pedestrian courier of the English postal service, 
whilst on his journey from Bagdad, with his bag of 
despatches on his back, was pursued by a " solitary," 
caught, and crushed beneath his feet. 

Whilst the canal of Beejapore was being made, about 
three miles from Dehra, an elephant, which had hidden 
behind a bush, rushed on some native workmen. He 



156 THE ELEPHANT. 

upset one, and holding the wretch's limbs under his 
heavy foot, he tore away the upper part of his body, 
by means of his trunk coiled under the armpits, and 
continued his route, brandishing this bloody trophy. 

Two woodmen employed in felling trees in the jun- 
gles of Chandnee-Doon becoming ill, instead of follow- 
ing their fellow-workmen, remained in the hut, in the 
company of a Brahmin, who was employed in looking 
after the domestic arrangements of the company. One 
of those woodmen, wanting some water, went out to a 
neighbouring spring : he did not return. The second 
went afterwards, but never came back. In the evening 
their bodies were found at a few yards from the spring. 
From the footprints on the soil it was easy to divine 
how they had perished. Both had been the victims of 
a " solitary." Their bodies did not exhibit any apparent 
wounds, only a little dust could be seen on their 
breasts ; but when this place was touched by the hand, 
it was found that the bones were completely crushed — 
a gentle pressure of the beast's foot had extinguished 
the life of these poor fellows. 



m. 

Elephants are very numerous in certain parts of 
Africa and Asia. 



THE ELEPHANT. 157 

The hunter whom we have just named was encamped 
on the shores of the Sooswa. There were a number of 
elephants in the camp ; and towards midnight they 
showed signs of disquietude, and at first uttered 
short shrill notes ; then they made the jungle resound 
with their roars, which were almost immediately re- 
sponded to, first from one point, then from another, 
till the night appeared to be peopled with their voices. 

Every one was afoot immediately. "As we were 
endeavouring to look into the darkness, we suddenly 
recognized the presence of a great pioneer tusk-bearer, 
close to our elephants ; then large moving masses in 
the neighbourhood, which appeared to rise and fall. 
Sometimes a large opaque body, which we had mistaken 
for a tree or a bush, and, as such, neglected, would 
suddenly disappear into space in solemn silence, whilst 
obscure outlines of arched backs and trunks passed 
before our eyes, like the phantoms of a dream, which 
are lost in the night. Suddenly the leader of the 
herd seemed to take alarm, and we heard a long 
splashing, during which the elephants were crossing 
the waves of the Sooswa, from our side. 

" There was a gap in the bank of the river near to 
us, and, as the leaders of the elephants chose this 
route, we soon saw the whole sombre column glide to 
the coast from us in a bluish light, as regularly as tho 
images in the slides of a magic-lantern. 



153 THE ELEPHANT. 

" There were, as near as I could manage to ascertain, 
about seventy of them in the herd; and I remarked 
here and there the pale light of the ivory." 

Such are the pictures which unfold themselves in 
Asia to the sight of the traveller. In Ceylon they 
frequently take a hundred elephants or more in one 
battue. So much for India. In Africa a like spectacle 
is seen. Speke, in the Ounyoro, met a herd of a 
hundred female elephants ; and Livingstone says that 
there are a prodigious number on the spot where the 
Zonga empties into the Lake Ngami. 

Delegorgue estimated that he was once in the midst 
of a herd of six hundred. A hunter has even pre- 
tended to have seen three thousand at once. 



IV. 

In India the methods of taking elephants are very 
varied (we will describe farther on how they kill them) ; 
to describe them all would be tedious. It is well 
known what pomp the Eastern princes were used to 
display in these expeditions. 

One day, as the Count de Forbin, then Grand Ad- 
miral and General of the armies of the King of Siam, 
was assisting at a hunt of this kind, the king asked 
him what he thought of the magnificent display around 
him. " Sire," replied Forbin, " seeing your majesty 



THE ELEPHANT. 159 

surrounded by all this cortege, I imagine that I see 
the king, my master, at the head of his troops, giving 
orders and disposing all things for a great battle. 

" This reply," he adds, " gave him great pleasure, 
as I had foreseen it would; for I knew that he loved 
nothing in the world better than to be compared to 
Louis le Grand ; and, if the truth must be written, 
this comparison, which went no further than the ex- 
terior grandeur and magnificence of the two princes, 
was not absolutely without justice, there being few 
spectacles in the world more superb than the public 
processions of the King of Siam." 

The following are the modern methods of hunting. 
In some places they are pursued with tame elephants, 
trained for the purpose, and very swift. 

When these have come up with one, the hunter 
throws, with much dexterity, a noose of very stout 
cord, in such a way that the wild animal finds himself 
caught by the foot. He falls, and they strap him down 
before he has time or opportunity for rising. They 
then fasten him between two strong tame elephants, 
who beat him with their trunks if he is at all re- 
fractory, and compel him to walk with them to the 
stables. 

In Ceylon an elephant hunt is a very important 
affair. The government assembles a great number of 
Europeans and Cingalese, who meet in the forest where 



160 THE ELEPHANT. 

these animals are to be found. All these hunters form 
a vast circle, which they gradually narrow, advancing 
and shouting. 

The frightened elephants have hut one side to fly, 
and there is found the " redan," into which they are 
forced to enter. This redan is nothing less than a 
great circle of stakes, terminating in a sort of narrow 
neck; once entered into which the elephants can no 
longer return. In order to force them to enter, shouts 
are increased, and burning torches are thrown before 
their eyes; then their fears are redoubled, and they 
rush into the trap, which encloses them. The first 
care after the capture is to tame them. 

This is managed by placing one or two tame ele- 
phants near the opening, by which the wild ones are 
made to pass out, tied together, as we have said 
already. Hunger on the one hand, and blows from tho 
trunks of their docile companions on the other, soon 
inspire them with resignation. 

They are also taken by pitfalls. A path is chosen 
which is used many times in the year by the elephants, 
and which probably serves as a route in going from 
the jungles to some spring in the mountains. 

Across these paths several pits are dug of about 
twenty feet wide and fifteen to twenty feet deep, and 
which are then covered over with branches and turf. 

However admirably these pits may be concealed, 



THE ELEPHANT. 161 

it does not often happen that the elephants fall 
therein. Not only do they try with their feet with 
the greatest care any ground that looks suspicious, 
but they make constant use of their trunks to prove 
ihe solidity of the soil, or to clear out of the way 
everything which appears to hide a trap. 

It is not an easy matter to draw an elephant out 
of one of these pits, and it can only be done by the 
aid of a tame elephant ; otherwise it would be 
necessary to subdue the animal by hunger before 
thinking of getting him out. 

Any one getting within reach of the trunk of an 
elephant just taken, would do so at the risk of his 
life ; but, singularly enough, a driver mounted on a 
tame elephant's neck can approach the novice with 
impunity, and tighten or slacken the noose round 
his neck or feet. 

The cords placed round the legs sometimes cut 
them to the bone, and leave marks which endure 
for the animal's lifetime. No nourishment is given 
to him for several days. This deprivation of food 
soon brings down his courage, and then it is that 
his appointed driver insures the friendly recognition 
of the elephant by bringing him food and unbinding 
his limbs. 



162 the et;ephant. 



V. 

Once appeased, they "become very submissive, and 
are used as beasts of burden; they are capari- 
soned for hunting and for war ; they are made to 
carry heavy loads, and are obedient to the voice and 
gesture. 

"The Siamese," says Forbin, "obtain consider- 
able services from these animals. They use them 
almost as domestics, and especially for taking care 
of the children : they take them up with their trunks 
and put them to bed and rock them to sleep; and 
when mamma wants them, she has only to order the 
elephant to go and bring them to her." 

Numerous instances which testify to their intelli- 
gence and docility are well known. 

Can one believe this, which a Siamese king reported 
of one on which he was mounted ? — " This elephant 
had not long since a groom who half famished him 
by depriving him a portion of the food allotted to him. 
The animal had no other means of complaining but 
by his cries, and made such a horrible noise that ho 
could be heard all through the palace.. Not being 
able to divine the cause of his crying so loudly, but 
suspecting the real fact, I gave him another groom, 



THE ELEPHANT. 1C3 

who, being more faithful, and having given him, 
without wrong, his full measure of rice, the elephant 
divided it into two parts with his trunk, and when 
he had eaten one half, he set up his cry again, 
indicating thereby to all who ran to see what was 
the matter, the infidelity of the first groom, who 
acknowledged his crime, for which I caused him to 
be severely chastised.'* 

Count cle Warren relates the following, which took 
place in India during the Coorg war, at a time 
when the writer's brigade was engaged in the bed 
of a dry mountain torrent : — 

" This circumstance enabled us to appreciate the 
intelligence of the elephants, and their usefulness in 
the mountains. Having reached a point where the 
bed of the torrent fell in cascades, it became a 
question as to the mode of raising the guns up the 
almost vertical declivity of a granite rock, the surface 
of which the waters had worn and polished. The 
oxen which drew the cannon gave up the attempt 
after one or two efforts, and lay down, as they 
always do in desperate cases. 

" It was then determined to send for somo 
elephants of the convoy. Two of the most docile 
were stripped of their loads and led by their guides 
to the place where the cannons were left. It was 
indicated to them by voice and gesture what was 

m 2 



161 THE ELEPHANT. 

expected from their courage ; and the confidence thus 
shown in them was not misplaced. One of the 
colossal beasts, placing himself behind a gun, applied 
the extremity of his trunk to it, and pushing it 
before him, whilst the cannoneers guided it, sent it 
up the rocky chasm. A little farther on, the gun 
having rolled into a ravine, and being upset, the two 
elephants lifted it up with their trunks, one on this 
side, and one on that, and replaced it on its 
carriage." 

A still more remarkable fact occurred during the 
terrible insurrection in India. 

" One day, during the march on Lucknow, in the 
month of March, 1858, by the order of General 
Outram, three howitzers were taken from the backs 
of the elephants which carried them on the march, 
and were placed in a battery on a little eminence, for 
the purpose of annoying the enemy's flank. One 
of them bears a celebrated name in India, from his 
mother, of which he is worthy, as we shall see, viz., 
Kudabar-Moll. 

" As soon as the pieces were in position, the 
animal placed himself, according to orders, at a few 
steps behind, and looked on. Soon the greater part 
of the artillerymen fell, decimated by the musketry 
of the enemy ; seeing this, Kudabar-Moll II. inter- 
posed, and taking the cartridges from the waggon 






THE ELEPHANT. 165 

with his trunk, he passed them, one by one, to the 
few survivors. The moment came when there re- 
mained only three Englishmen. These brave fellows 
succeeded, nevertheless, in reloading the howitzers, 
but before they could fire them they all fell, mortally 
wounded. 

" ' Here, my brave Kudabar cried he who held the 
match. The elephant approached, seized the match, 
fired the first gun, and was ready to continue the 
manoeuvre, when two companies of infantry came up 
and dislodged the enemy." 

»But there is nothing perfect in this world — elephant 
no more than man ; here is one proof among others : 
— " A male elephant, belonging to the commissariat, 
was drinking at a stream, which passes through the 
city of Dehra. An old woman approached to fill 
her pitcher with water, when the animal, seized 
with an inexplicable desire for mischief, passed his 
trunk round the woman, threw her down, and placing 
her under one of his feet, quietly crushed her, and 
then began to flap his ears and to drink, as if this 
little buffoonery had been but an innocent wander- 
ing of the imagination." 

It sometimes happens that domestic elephants 
escape, and as we have seen some of these become 
duserters. Others are not slow in becoming disgusted 
with their liberty, and come back to service of their 



166 THE ELEPHANT. . 

own accord. A large female, named Ram-Kullee, 
celebrated at Hurdwar for her cleverness in calming 
and training the elephants taken in the traps, fled 
into the jungles on two or three occasions, and each 
time came back of her own accord. 



VI. 

We have described the method of taking elephants in 
India, let us now show by one or two examples how 
they kill them. # 

In the wild gorges of Sewalik two natives, a Brin- 
jara and a Ghoorka, accompanied the hunter, who 
relates as follows : — " We had just thrown ourselves 
on the ground, exhausted by the heat and want of 
water, which is very scarce during summer on the 
northern side of the mountain chain of the Sewalik, 
when the silence which surrounded us was suddenly 
interrupted by the cracking of a broken branch. We 
advanced gently and silently in the direction indi- 
cated by the noise, and came upon a herd of six 
large and several young elephants feeding. They 
had no wind of us, although I had taken no pre- 
caution in this respect ; and, flapping their large ears, 
they continued to browse the bushes of the bamboos 
and other trees around them. After having placed the 



THE ELEPHANT. 167 

Brinjara at a safe distance, and ordered the little 
Ghoorka to keep himself at about twenty or thirty yards 
behind me with my reserve double-barrelled guns, 
I began to creep towards the herd w r ith my single 
carabine. Suddenly a change in the wind caused a 
number of trunks to be raised into the air. The 
trunk has a little appendage in the shape of a finger, 
and in a second each of them was turned towards 
the bush behind which I was stooping down, as if 
to indicate the place whence danger might be ex- 
pected. The herd then began to move off slowly, 
their frequent encounters with woodmen in the 
jungles having rendered them less easy to frighten 
than they would otherwise have been. We did 
not see any ivory-bearer amongst them; and if 
the male was not near at hand, the head of the 
troop would be some great muckna, or tuskless 
male. 

"An enormous female was making her repast 
amongst the branches of a bush of bamboos, at a 
short distance in front of me. I crept along under 
the cover, and arrived within four yards of her be- 
fore she saw me. I aimed at her temples and fired. 
I had resolved to hasten to the bottom of the escarp- 
ment as quickly as I could, to see the effects of my 
shot, and as soon as I had fired I ran straight to 
the place where my Ghoorka was waiting. A fearful 



168 THE ELEPHANT. 

fracas in the trees followed the sound of my gun, and 
I perceived the Brinjara flying through the wood in a 
terrible fright. 

"As I was not pursued, I returned to the place 
whence I had fired, and I saw the elephant lying 
dead. 

" The hall had pierced the skull, hut it had hut 
touched the brain, although it weighed four ounces, 
was pointed with steel, and I had charged with six 
drachms of powder — equal to about four ordinary 
charges." 

Another example. We are this time in the 
forest of Dholekote, on the track of a whole herd. 
The interest of the matter consists in this — that the 
hunter was mounted on a female elephant provided 
with a saddle. He had determined to descend as 
soon as he should be in sight of the game, but he 
was not slow in discovering that the old paterfamilias, 
which was armed with respectable ivories, took the 
alarm like the rest as soon as the hunter descended 
from his seat; whereas, on the contrary, he seemed 
to contemplate fearlessly the elephant carrying his 
two men. 

"I determined then, in spite of the many 
objections of the driver, who doubted that my 
carabine could stop short an elephant in full charge, 
to go straight to the old male and to fire at him 



THE ELEPHANT. 169 

from the back of my elephant. I had an American 
rifle, the power of which I was very desirous of 
proving, and with this gun I fired at the animal's 
temples, at a distance of forty paces. At that distance 
I could easily hit the bottom of a wine-glass, and 
I was therefore perfectly certain that I had struck 
the place I aimed at ; but its calibre was not 
sufficient, and the patriarch scampered off, followed 
by four balls from my battery, which I foolishly fired 
off, in the vainhope of stopping him. 

" We then recommenced following the track, 
assisted here and there by drops of blood. After a 
pursuit of five miles we discovered that we had 
changed the route, having lost the wounded elephant 
and taken that of an elephant which had wandered 
from the path taken by the troop. We were, in fact, 
following the fresh footprints of a solitary male, 
whose meditations we troubled at about ten miles 
from the place where our first shot had been fired- 
We were now in the forest of Horawalla, where one 
is always sure to find elephants at the time when 
the rice is ripening. 

" This time I used my heavy carabine, firing from 
the back of my elephant at about fifteen paces. My 
aim was not perfectly certain ; the old male stumbled 
and fell on his knees, but as he roared furiously, it 



170 THE ELEPHANT. 

was clear that the brain had not been penetrated. I 
therefore slipped down, and firing another ball 
straight into the face of the solitary animal at three 
yards' distance, I killed him instantly; and climbing 
upon the enormous crease, I fiat in, tviumjpb op *ny ) 
dead enemy." 






CHAPTER XIL 

(Elephants (continued). 

VII. 

In Africa they hunt the elephant not for the purpose 
of securing a powerful servant, but to procure his 
tusks. It is, therefore, by his death that all happy 
expeditions terminate. There are a great variety of 
ways of ensuring this result. 

Let us pass into Nubia for awhile. 

Before all things, it is necessary that hunters 
should know the daily habits of that which they 
wish to make their prey, as well as the places fre- 
quented by it. This condition being fulfilled, they 
establish themselves in the thick foliage of the large 
trees which the elephants browse and being invisible, 
they await his approach ; when the unsuspecting 
animal, finds himself underneath them, seizing a 
favourable instant, they plunge their lances into his 
eyes and jaws. This proceeding might appear very 
simple : it is very dangerous ; for if the animal is 
only wounded, the tree must be a very strong one 



172 THE ELEPHANT. 

that lie will not tear up by the root. Woe, then, to 
the imprudent one, who, calculating distance badly, 
shall have placed himself on a branch low enough 
for the animal to reach him. He will die beneath 
the weight of his intended prey. 

Those of the Sennaar are taken in a manner which 
will interest the reader. 

Two men, absolutely naked, mount a horse ; they 
are naked because it is necessary that not the least 
rag should be caught by the branches of trees or 
bushes when they fly before their enemy. 

One of the riders holds a short stick in his right 
hand, and with his left he holds the bridle carefully. 
His comrade behind him is armed with a large sabre, 
the hilt of which he holds in his left hand. Fourteen 
inches of the blade are covered with twine, so that 
he can take this part of the blade in his right hand 
without risk of wounding himself; and, although the 
blade may be sharp as a razor, he carries it without a 
sheath. 

As soon as they have discovered the animal brows- 
ing, the man who guides the horse rushes straight at 
him, shouting, "lam such a one ; this is my horse, 
named so-and-so. I have killed your father in such 
a place, and your grandfather in such another place ; 
now I am going to kill you ; you are but an ass 
in comparison with your father." The rider really 



TIIE ELEPHANT. 173 

believes that the elephant comprehends these words, 
because, irritated by the noise, he endeavours to strike 
with his trunk, and instead of saving himself, as he 
might do, by flight, pursues the horse, which turns 
round and round him unceasingly. At length the 
rider, galloping close up to the animal, in passing, lets 
his companion slip down, who, profiting by the moment 
when the elephant is occupied with the horse, adroitly 
gives him a sabre cut over the top of the heel, and 
cuts the tendon which in man is called the " tendon 
Achilles." 

This is the moment of difficulty, for the rider must 
at once get behind to take up his companion, who 
springs up on the horse's crupper. They then follow 
the other elephants with the utmost speed, if they 
have separated more than one of the herd, and 
sometimes they kill as many as three of the same 
band. If the sabre is well sharpened, and the man 
strikes with a sure hand, the tendon is entirely 
separated; if it is not, the weight of the animal 
soon completes the work. The elephant, no longer 
able to advance, falls beneath the javelin, and expires 
from loss of blood. 

However clever the hunters may be, the elephant 
sometimes seizes them with his trunk, and with a 
single blow felling horse and rider to the ground, 
he tears them limb from limb, one after the other. 



174 THE ELEPHANT. 

Many perish in this manner. Besides this, during 
the hunting season the earth is so dry from the sun, 
that there are numerous cracks, and it is then very 
dangerous for riding on horseback. 

Nevertheless, mention has been made of a man 
who, regardless of the perils of this sport, had arrived 
at such perfection, that he acted without the aid of 
any one else. Let him speak for himself. 

" I rub my body with elephant grease, and conceal 
myself in the neighbourhood of the places which 
they frequent. I watch them attentively, and when 
I see one separated from his companions, I approach 
him cautiously. The odour which I give out pre- 
vents the animal from paying any attention to me. 
I am armed with a sharp-edged sword, and with a 
vigorous arm I strike the animal on the hind-leg, 
and as quick as a gazelle I disappear. The blood 
flows from his wound, and the furious animal utters 
terrible cries, which make his affrighted companions 
fly. Irritated by the pain, he strikes the earth with 
his wounded foot, completes the cut, and falls, over- 
powered by his own mass, incapable of rising. The 
elephant is alone, the others having taken their depar- 
ture ; I can then approach him without fear, knowing 
that he will not be succoured ; and, provided that I 
avoid placing myself within reach of his trunk, it is 
an easy matter to finish him." 



THE ELEPHANT. 175 

VIII. 

Let us now go to the south, our way enlivened by one 
of the hunting adventures of the unfortunate Captain 
Speke. 

This happened in the Oungoro. 

" Some elephants were signalled in the neighbour- 
hood. My comrade and I — our guns ready — dis- 
covered a troop of a hundred females, on a plain 
covered with tall grass, here and there sprinkled 
with hillocks, clothed with dwarf shrubs. "vVe fired 
at a dozen at least without killing one of these 
enormous beasts, and only one seemed inclined to 
charge. Profiting by the thickness of the grass, I 
crept within reach of the herd, and sent a shot at one 
of the largest, which had separated from the rest while 
browsing. The others, taking alarm, formed a group, 
and snuffing the air with their trunks simultaneously 
raised, finished by satisfying themselves from the smell 
of the powder that their enemy was in front of them. 
Then, waving their trunks, they came nearer to the 
place where I lay screened by a bend in the ground. 

" When they scented me, their march was at once 
suspended, and erecting their heads, they surveyed 
me askaunt from head to foot. The situation was 
menacing. I could not manage so as to strike one 
in such a way as that it should fall under the blow, 



176 THE ELEPHANT. 

and if I deferred for an instant, "both I and my 
companion would be thrown down and trampled under 
foot. I hastened to aim at the temple, and the blow 
not proving mortal, the whole band took flight, and 
hurried off to the open country more quickly than 
they came. As, therefore, I could not separate one 
of the wounded elephants, I gave in, for it seemed 
to me cruel to hit others in pure sport. On reflection, 
I thought that I ought to have used more powder; 
the small size of these animals, compared with the 
Indian elephants, had deceived me, and I had loaded 
my gun as if for rhinoceros shooting." 



IX. 

The same kind of traps is used in South Africa as 
in Asia. They cover them very cleverly with branches ; 
but old elephants, at the head of a band, have been 
known to remove the covering from the pits ; and 
Livingstone says that he has seen them drawing 
young ones from the pit, into which they had fallen. 

Travellers also sometimes fall into them; Le Vail- 
lant, for example, who, by means of repeatedly firing 
his gun, at last attracted the attention of his people, 
who delivered him. 

M. du Chaillu met with the same adventure amongst 
the Apingis. The pit was ten feet deep, and it waa 
night. 



THE ELEPHANT. 177 

" For once I thought I was lost — alone, abandoned, 
during the night in this accursed hole. I expected, 
moreover, to see some great serpent fall on my head. 
I shouted with all my might, and I had the good for- 
tune to he heard. My people came, and I got out by 
means of ropes, which they got in the wood and threw 
down to me." 

An elephant, pursued by Livingstone's people, fell 
into one of these pits, and there received the javelins 
of seventy men who pursued him ; he nevertheless 
managed to scramble out of the trap, looking like an im- 
mense porcupine. The hunters having no more javelins, 
ran to Livingstone, begging him to finish the animal; 
he fired two two-ounce balls without killing him. 

There is another method peculiar to this country de- 
scribed by M. du Chaillu. " The natives discover a 
walk or path through which it is likely that a herd 
or single animal will soon pass. Then they take a 
piece of very heavy wood, which the Bakalai call hanou, 
and trice it up into a high tree, where it hangs, with a 
sharp point armed with iron pointing downwards. It 
is suspended by a rope, which is so arranged that the 
instant the elephant touches it — which he cannot help 
doing, if he passes under the hanou — it is loosed, and 
falls with tremendous force on to his back, the iron 
point wounding him, and the heavy weight generally 
breaking his spine," 



178 THE ELEPHANT. 

The mode adopted by the Batongas, and the Ban« 
yai on the Zambesi, is somewhat like the foregoing. 
" They erect stages," says Livingstone, " on high trees 
overhanging the path by which the elephants come, and 
then use a large spear, with a handle nearly as thick as 
a man's wrist, and four or five feet long. When the 
animal comes beneath, they throw the spear, and if it 
enters between the ribs above, as the blade is at least 
twenty inches long by two broad, the motion of the 
handle, as it is aided by knocking against the trees, 
makes frightful gashes within, and soon causes death. 
They Mil them also by means of a spear inserted in a 
beam of wood, which, being suspended on the branch 
of a tree by a cord attached to a latch fastened in the' 
path, and intended to be struck by the animal's foot, 
leads to the fall of the beam, and, the spear being 
poisoned, causes death in a few hours/' 



X. 

The attack with the javelin, in the open country, 
seems to be more worthy of the true hunter. Living- 
stone thus describes it : — " I had retired from the noise 
to take an observation among some rocks of laminated 
girt, when I beheld an elephant and her calf at the end 
of a valley, about two miles distant. The calf was 



THE ELEPHANT. 179 

rolling in the mud, and the dam was standing fanning 
herself with her great ears. As I looked at them 
through my glass, I saw a long string of my own men 
appearing on the other side of them. I then went 
higher up the side of the valley, in order to have a 
distinct view of their mode of hunting. The goodly 
beast, totally unconscious of the approach of an enemy, 
stood for some time suckling her young one, which 
seemed about two years old; they then went into a 
pit containing mud, and smeared themselves all over 
with it ; the little one frisking about his dam, flapping 
his ears, and tossing his trunk incessantly in elephan- 
tine fashion. She kept flapping her ears and wagging 
her tail, as if in the height of enjoyment. Then began 
the piping of her enemies, which was performed by 
blowing into a tube, or the hands closed together, 
as boys do into a key. They call out, to attract the 
animal's attention, — 

' O chief ! chief ! we have come to kill you ; 
O chief! chief! many others will die beside you; 
The gods have said it,' &c. &c. 

Both animals expanded their ears and listened; 
then left their bath. As the crowd rushed towards 
them, the little one ran forward, towards the end of 
the valley, but seeing the men, returned to his dam. 
She placed hersetf on the dangerous side of her calf, 
and passed her proboscis over it again and again, as if 



180 THE ELEPHANT. 

to assure it of safety. She frequently looked back to the 
men, who kept up an incessant shouting, singing, and 
piping ; then looked at her young one, and ran after it, 
sometimes sideways, as if her feelings were divided 
between anxiety to protect her offspring and desire to 
revenge the temerity of her persecutors. The men 
kept about a hundred yards in her rear, and some that 
distance from her flanks, and continued thus until she 
was obliged to cross a rivulet. The time spent in 
descending and getting up the opposite bank, allowed 
of their coming up to the edge and discharging their 
spears at about twenty yards' distance. After the first 
discharge she appeared with her sides red with blood, 
and beginning to flee for her own life, seemed to think 
no more of her young. 

" I had previously sent off Sekweba, with orders to 
spare the calf. He ran very fast, but neither young 
nor old ever enter into a gallop. Their quickest pace 
is only a sharp walk. Before Sekweba could reach 
them, the calf had taken refuge in the water and was 
killed. The pace of the dam gradually became slower. 
She turned with a shriek of rage, and made a furious 
charge back among the men. They vanished at right 
angles to her course, or sideways; and as she ran 
straight on, she went through the whole party, but 
came near no one, except a man who wore a piece of 
cloth on his shoulders. Bright clothing is always 



THE ELEPHANT. 181 

dangerous in these cases. She charged three or four 
times, and, except in the first instance, never went 
farther than 100 yards. She often stood, after she 
had crossed a rivulet, and faced the men, though 
she received fresh spears. It was by this process of 
spearing and loss of blood that she was killed, for at 
last, making a short charge, she staggered round, and 
sank down dead in a kneeling posture." 

A. traveller thus describes a regular battle, in which 
500 men were engaged : — 

" The forests here are full of rough strong climbing 
plants, which you will see running up to the tops of 
the tallest trees. These vines they tear down, and 
wilh them ingeniously, but with much labour, construct 
a kind of huge fence or obstruction, not sufficient to 
hold the elephant, but quite strong enough to check 
him in his flight, and entangle him in the meshes, till 
the hunters can have time to kill him. Once caught, 
they quietly surround the huge beast, and put an end 
to his struggles by incessant discharges of their spears 
or guns. 

"Presently a land of hunting-horn was sounded, 
and the charge began. Parties were stationed at 
different parts of the barrier, or tangle as we will call 
it, which had an astonishing extent, and must have 
cost much toil to" make. Others stole through the 
woods in silence and looked for their prey. 



182 THE ELEPHANT. 

"When they find an elephant, they approach very 
carefully. The object is to scare him, and make him 
run towards some part of the barrier, generally not 
far off. To accomplish this, they often crawl at their 
full length along the ground, just like snakes, and with 
astonishing swiftness. 

" The first idea of the animal is flight. He rushes 
ahead almost blindly, but is brought up by the barrier 
of vines. Enraged and still more terrified, he tears 
everything with his trunk and feet, but in vain ; and 
the more he labours, the more fatally he is held. 

"Meantime, at the first rush of the elephant, the 
natives crowd round, and while he is struggling in 
their toils they are plying him with spears, often from 
trees, till the poor wounded beast looks like a huge 
porcupine. The spearing does not cease till they have 
killed their prey. 

"To-day we killed four elephants in this way. The 
elephants about here have the reputation of holding 
man in slight fear, and the approach and attack are 
work for the greatest courage and presence of mind. 
Even then fatal accidents occur. 

"To-day a man was killed. I was not present at the 
accident, but he seems to have lost his presence of 
mind, and when the elephant charged with great fury 
at a crowd of assailants, he was caught, and instantly 
trampled under foot." 



THE ELEPHANT. 183 

XI. 

Hunting with the gun, notwithstanding the supe- 
riority of the weapon, is full of peril. This may be 
judged of by the situation in which Le Vaillant found 
himself on the occasion of his first elephant hunt. 

The animal had received fifteen shots, aud he was 
thoroughly enraged; he had led the hunters into 
brushwood, interspersed with the dead trunks of fallen 
trees. The elephant, at twenty-five yards from our 
traveller, charged him. He ran away, the beast at 
every instant gaining on the man. 

"More dead than alive, it only remained for me to 
lie down flat behind the trunk of a fallen tree. I had 
scarcely got there when the animal arrived, leaned 
over the obstacle, and, himself frightened by the noise 
of my people which he heard before him, stood to 
listen. 

" From the place where I was hidden I might have 
shot him. Fortunately my gun was loaded, but the 
beast had already received uselessly so many shots, 
and presenting himself to me in such an unfavour- 
able position, that, despairing of bringing him down 
at one shot, I remained motionless waiting my fate. 
I watched him, nevertheless, resolved to sell my life 
dearly if I saw him come back to me. My people, 
uneasy for their master, shouted for me on all sides. I 



184 THE ELEPHANT, 

was careful not to reply, and they, convinced by my 
silence that they had lost their master, redoubled their 
cries, and came back in despair. The elephant, 
frightened, returned immediately, and leaped a second 
time over the trunk of the tree, at six yards from me, 
without seeing me : then springing to my feet, burn- 
ing with impatience, and wishing to give to my Hot- 
tentots some sign of life, I sent the contents of my 
gun into his posteriors. He immediately disappeared 
from my sight, leaving everywhere on his path sure 
signs of the cruel state in which we had placed 
him." 

Pursued by an elephant, on the shores of the Zouga, 
Mr. Oswell fell from his horse into the midst of a 
thicket ; he fell with his face turned towards the ele- 
phant, which was approaching, and could see the enor- 
mous foot of the beast about to fall on his limbs. He 
moved them, holding his breath, and expecting to be 
crushed by the hind-feet. The animal passed on with- 
out seeing or touching him. 

Two colonists, having perceived an elephant, resolved 
to pursue him. Far from being clever in this chase, 
it was the first time they had seen an animal of that 
species. The horses were as little experienced as their 
masters. Nevertheless, they did not evade the attack. 
They approached to within sixty yards of the elephant 
without his appearing to take any notice of them. 



THE ELEPHANT. 185 

Then he moved away, without much haste, doubling 
the distance between them. 

One of the farmers descended from his horse, and 
falling on one knee, and fixing in the ground his 
musket-stand, he fired. 

Scarcely had he time to remount and turn his horse, 
when the colossal beast was on his track, uttering such 
a shrill cry that it seemed to pierce the hunter to the 
very marrow of his bones. Happily he had presence of 
mind to turn towards a rising ground, the climbing 
of which slackened the pace of the elephant. The 
other hunter seized the moment, dismounted, and 
fired, then sprang on his saddle again, and spurred off 
with both heels, having now the terrible game behind 
him : the tactics which had succeeded with his com- 
rade saved him. The elephant did not fall until he 
had received the eighth ball. 

Another colonist, Ciaas Volk, being hidden behind 
a clump of prickly shrubs, flattered himself that he 
should surprise an elephant. The animal scented him, 
struck him down with his trunk, and trampled him 
underneath his feet. 

A band of hunters had surprised two elephants, the 
one a male, the other a female, in the open plain. Not 
far off were some thick and prickly bushes : the 
animals fled towards, the thicket, and the male was 
soon under cover, but the female, having been wounded, 



186 THE ELEPHANT. 

could not fly with the same rapidity. The hunters, 
cutting off her retreat, prepared to kill her, when sud- 
denly the male, rushing with fury from his retreat, 
and uttering frightful cries, threw himself upon them. 
His aspect at this moment was so terrible that all the 
hunters, leaping on their horses, fled to save their lives 
— all except Cobus Klopper, who had wounded the 
female, and who, standing up with the bridle of his 
horse passed over his arm, was reloading his gun at 
the moment when the furious animal came out of the 
wood. The elephant rushed upon him, driving his 
ivory tusks into the body of the poor fellow ; he after- 
wards trampled him beneath his feet, then lifting him 
from the ground with his trunk, he threw him to a 
great height. Having satiated his vengeance he re- 
turned towards the female, caressed her affectionately 
with his trunk, helped her to rise, sustained with his 
shoulder her wounded side, and, without paying any 
attention to the shots which the hunters fired from a 
distance, he soon disappeared with her in the impene- 
trable retreats of the forest. 

Karol Krieger was an indefatigable and bold hunter. 
He shot with much address, and often found himself 
in very dangerous situations. Once, with his com- 
panions, he pursued a wounded elephant ; the animal 
suddenly turned round, seized him with his trunk, 
threw him into the air, and trampled him under his 



THE ELEPHANT. 187 

feet. The others, struck with horror, fled without 
daring to look upon the scene ot this frightful 
tragedy. 

They came the following day to perform the last 
duties to their companion. TJie elephant had torn the 
body into pieces and strewed the fragments in the 
dust : they could only give burial to the scattered 
remains. 



XII. 



Cooper Rose, in his travels, one day met with a 
strange hunter ; he was a little meagre and vivacious 
man, whose sun-burnt figure and piercing eye denoted 
his hazardous profession. His manners were frank and 
bold. His eye shone under his peasant's hat; his 
powder-horn hung from a large black leathern belt, 
which also supported his bag net ; he rode a small and 
very spirited horse, and was followed by nine dogs of 
different breeds. 

The country which they had traversed was entirely 
wild, elephants alone had made the paths. Men came 
there for the first time, and it was to destroy. 

They followed in silence the paths of the elephants, 
over the mountains and into the ravines. Cooper Rose, 
little used to march thus, began to find himself 



188 THE ELEPHANT. 

fatigued. " "We shall soon be near the elephants/' 
said the strange hunter, " and then we can sit down 
and watch them." They marched thus for a part of 
the day, when the guide, looking towards a small hill 
a long way off, announced that a herd of elephants 
was there feeding. The company took courage, and 
with new vigour set off on their march. A straight 
path conducted them very near to the place where the 
animals were feeding. The guide stopped ; the hunter 
gave to his companions some lighted torches, and 
assigned to them the places where they should set fire 
to the bushes and the grass, in order to insure their 
retreat if by chance the elephants should show fight. 
They were browsing in full security, flapping their 
cheeks with their large ears, and enjoying their pasture 
with soft indolence. At the moment shots were heard, 
and an elephant fell, the herd had taken flight ; they 
ran with the rapidity of which they are capable, upset- 
ting every obstacle, breaking large trees like young 
shrubs. The following day they discovered nine or 
ten. The bushes prevented their being distinctly seen, 
but they heard them browsing. Guns were fired, and a 
fearful noise announced the flight of the animals, of 
which three fell mortally wounded. They were small, 
the largest not being more than three feet high. Koso 
made the observation that, considering the frequency of 
the tracks which they had met with, the country ought 






II 



,;■ 







THE ELEPHANT. 189 

to abound with elephants. The hunter told him that 
he was not deceived ; that three years before he had 
met with more than three thousand on the banks of 
the river, but that since that time an immense number 
Lad been destroyed. 

Our traveller, who delighted in this life of adven- 
ture, was astonished to hear the hunter express how 
much he desired to quit this wandering existence, and 
to establish himself quietly on his farm. 

"I should have thought," said Rose to him, "that 
a peaceable life would appear very monotonous to you 
after so many daily emotions." "No, truly," replied 
the hunter; "I have a wife and little children, and I 
have been constrained to do this by necessity and by the 
debts which I have to pay : soon all these difficulties 
will be surmounted. In the space of twenty months I 
have killed eight hundred elephants. Four hundred 
have been brought down by the good gun which I still 
carry, but it will be with great pleasure that I shall 
cease to make use of it. How could I count the num- 
ber of times when the elephants, seeking to take ven- 
geance on me, have found themselves within a step of 
the place where I was crouching ? One day I had 
just fired into a numerous group ; the sound was 
repeated by the echo and deceived the elephants, 
whi ch flying in the opposite direction, passed into the 
bush where my Hottentots and I were concealed The 



190 THE ELEPHANT. 

most intrepid hunter succumbs at last. Not long 
since, pursued by a rhinoceros, I was about to leap 
down a precipice, of the depth of which I was ignorant. 
No, sir, this life of dangers is not desirable. Would 
you believe that one day, not having any food, I was 
obliged to eat the leather of my shoes ?" 



CHAPTER Xm, 

J* ©lepjjatti {continued.) 

The Royal Elephant Hunt at the Knysna. 

[As an appropriate conclusion, we have ventured to 
quote from The Times' correspondent the last recorded 
elephant hunt in which H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh 
performed the most prominent part. — Translator.] 

As soon as it had become known that His Eoyal 
Highness had arrived in Simon's Bay, all the principal 
places of the colony became anxious to receive a visit 
from him. In a happy hour the people of the Knysna 
also sent him an invitation, and, as an inducement to 
him to accept it, promised, if he came, to provide him 
with amusement after their own fashion. In every 
quarter the Duke can find grand dinners and grand 
balls and suppers; but a dance on the green sward, 
with an elephant for a partner, is what but few places 
in the world can afford. Therefore, in the afternoon 
of Saturday the 7th of September, His Royal Highness, 
accompanied by the Governor and some other gentle- 
men, went on board the war-vessel Racoon, in Sim&n'fe 



192 THE ELEPHAXT. 

Bay, and steamed down the coast, arriving off the 
Knysna Heads on Monday morning. As the Racoon 
draws too much water to permit her to cross the bar, 
the Duke and his companions transhipped themselves 
to the Petrel, which entered the river at noon. That 
morning great numbers had come in from the country, 
so that the place was crowded with people. About 
one o'clock the Duke landed, and was received on the 
jetty by the authorities. He then mounted a horse, 
and with a large escort, amid cheering and firing o 
guns, rode into the village, which was handsomely 
decorated with flags and arches. At one of these the 
usual loyal address was presented, and then the Duke 
and his companions retired to the house that had 
been prepared for their accommodation. That night 
the village was illuminated, and bonfires blazed on the 
surrounding hills, for the people of the Knysna felt 
proud and honoured by the Duke's visit, and did 
everything in their power to give him a suitable 
reception. 

The next morning, Tuesday the 10th of September, 
was very fine at the Knysna, and shortly after sun- 
rise a goodly cavalcade of some forty horsemen, with 
His Royal Highness at their head, and attended by 
seven bullock- waggons, started for elephant shooting 
at Middle Erf, which is about a good hour's ride from 
tbi village. There one of the scouts met us with 



THE ROYAL ELEPHANT HUNT AT THE KNYSNA. 193 

tlie information that the old bull elephant, which 
the Duke was desirous of shooting, had left that 
quarter only the night before. They had that morning 
traced him from his usual haunts into the great forest, 
so there was nothing for it but to rightabout face, and, 
with left shoulders forward, we abandoned the road 
we had come and dashed across the country. In less 
than an hour we came again on the new road at the 
entrance to the forest, where, as soon as the waggons 
arrived, we camped near a pretty stream and had 
breakfast. At this place we remained about an hour, 
and then proceeded for ten miles, with the forest 
bordering the road all the way on either hand. 
Forest, forest, far as the eye could reach, nothing 
but forest. It was really a fine ride, and afforded very 
great enjoyment to all the party not accustomed to 
such scenery. Then we arrived at the former convict 
station, called Yzen Nek, where there is now a road- 
side hotel, at which we halted and got some forage 
for our horses. After a considerable delay we started 
again, leaving the forest behind us, only patches of it 
being seen in the ravines here and there as we rode 
along. It is about four miles from Yzen Nek to 
Buffel's Nek, which is a very elevated site, and from 
which there is a splendid view of mountain scenery. 
Arrived at Buffel's .Nek and the waggons having come 
up, the camp was pitched, and " all went merry as a 

o 



194 THE ELEPHANT. 

marriage bell," but unfortunately, about nine o'clock, 
it began to rain heavily, accompanied with a strong 
wind. All who were under canvas made it out pretty 
well, but those who had to rough it, with mother 
earth for a bed and little beside the canopy of heaven 
for a blanket, had a hard time of it. Some crept 
under the waggons, in the hope of finding that 
shelter which they sought in vain, while others sat 
cowering over the fires, shivering from the cold and 
wishing for daylight, with nothing but a blanket or an 
extra coat thrown over their shoulders to protect them 
from the pelting storm. The poor horses, too, suffered 
a good deal, for they were tied up at sunset in the 
open air, and with but a very scanty allowance of 
forage to appease their hunger. But a stormy night, 
like every other trouble, must come to an end at last, 
and at the very first peep of early dawn the camp 
was astir. All were in good spirits, notwithstanding 
the discomfort many of us had undergone; but the 
rain still continued at intervals, and therefore it was 
past noon before the horses were saddled and we made 
a start. After riding for more than an hour along 
a high ridge, one of the scouts came up to say that 
eleven elephants were grazing in the valley at a short 
distance, and on advancing a little farther we saw them 
very distinctly. A messenger was now sent back to 
the Governor, who was a considerable way behind, to 



THE ROYAL ELEPHANT HUNT AT THE KNYSNA. 195 

tell him to hasten up, for the Duke was anxious that 
his Excellency should enjoy the sight, and certainly it 
was a sight in every way worth enjoying. 

There we sat, high up on the ridge, with the valley 
below us, in which the elephants were quietly grazing 
and little dreaming that enemies were near, while on 
the further side of the valley the scenery was splendid, 
mountain upon mountain, in every conceivable shape, 
stretching away before us to the verge of the horizon. 
It was truly a noble prospect, and no doubt Mr. 
Brierley, the Duke's artist, will do it justice. The 
Governor having come up, and a considerable time 
having been spent in watching the elephants, the 
Duke made a move, and, followed by the hunters, 
descended into the valley. Here the party separated, 
the Duke, escorted by a few specially selected men, 
under the command of Mr. George Hex, taking the 
direction which was considered most likely to bring 
him near the elephants, while the others placed them- 
selves in such spots as they thought would enable 
them also to get a shot. But things did not turn out 
according to our wishes, for, after spending more 
than an hour in vain attempts to find the elephants, 
which were now hidden from view by the bush, the 
Dake did not obtain a sight of them until they had 
got to the further side of a broad and deep ravine, 
and he was therefore compelled to fire at a long range. 



IS 6 THE ELEPHANT. 

He discharged six shots, all of which took effect, and 
then the others also blazed away; but though three 
elephants were wounded, and two of them very 
severely, they managed to effect their escape. It was 
thought, however, that they were not far off, and 
therefore young Atkinson, who was one of the Duke's 
personal escort, entered the bush alone, which was a 
service of no little danger, to ascertain if they were 
to be found ; but it was all to no purpose, and so, as it 
was then getting dark, there was nothing for it but 
to retrace our steps to the camp. As- we continued to 
wend our way back, we found the vast difference 
between the same path by day and the same path by 
night. In the morning, when we were fresh for the 
work before us, and elated with the prospect of a good 
day's sport, we thought nothing of the rugged hillside 
track, with its ups and downs, and fords and swamps, 
but the same track proved very miserable when wo 
were hungry, weary, and exhausted. All, too, felt dis- 
appointment more or less, because things had not 
turned out according to our hopes ; but, notwithstand- 
ing that, the Duke was greatly pleased. He had seen 
the elephants, and proved himself to be a crack shot, 
and he declared that, if nothing more was to come of 
his hunting, he would still derive the highest gratifica- 
tion from his visit. That night there was a little rain 
and a cold cutting wind, but nothing like what there 



THE ROYAL ELEPHANT HUNT AT THE KNYSNA. 197 

was the night before, so those who had to rough it in 
the open air managed to get some repose. The camp, 
as usual, was astir at peep of day next morning, and 
the scouts and hunters made a start to look for the 
elephants that had been wounded the day before, but 
the Duke did not join their party. He kept about the 
camp, merely going a short distance alone with a light 
gun to get a shot at small birds. The others who did 
not accompany the hunters amused themselves as they 
best could. The Governor wrote letters, Mr. Brierly 
made some sketches, and the officers of the Petrel 
(with the exception of Captain Gordon, who had gone 
after the elephants) took their guns and crossed to the 
opposite hill to try and shoot bucks; but on the 
whole, some of us that day found it rather slow work. 
In the evening the scouts and hunters returned 
without having seen anything of the elephants, and 
therefore the Duke, whose time was limited, as he had 
arranged to leave the Knysna on Saturday, determined 
to return to Middle Erf in the morning, and make 
another attempt to shoot the old bull. That night there 
was no rain, but we had a repetition of a strong, cold, 
and biting blast, only it was from another quarter; 
and, indeed, Buffel's Nek is so elevated and exposed to 
the west and east that I much doubt whether it would 
be possible to find any night in the year there without 
the same annoyance. The next morning there was a 



198 THE ELEPHANT. 

new arrival in the camp, who had ridden through from 
the Knysna during the night to inform the Duke that 
some of the scouts had seen the elephants the previous 
evening on the edge of a detached piece of forest, 
which is situated on Middle Erf. This news confirmed 
the Duke in his determination to leave Buffer s Nek, 
and it was therefore yet very early when word was 
passed along to saddle up and mount. Prior to start- 
ing we had nothing but coffee, for we expected to make 
a halt at the other side of the forest, and have some- 
thing to eat on the same spot where we had previously 
breakfasted. That hope, however, we were not 
destined to realize, for we were still a couple of miles 
from Where we proposed to saddle off, when a scout 
came galloping up to let the Duke know that it was 
hardly an hour since he had seen the elephants at 
Middle Erf. Of course there was then an end of all 
thoughts of breakfast, necessary though it was — for 
who would delay for such a purpose with, it might be 
said, the game in view ? On, therefore, we dashed ; 
but, prior to entering on the final act of the drama, 
permit me to 'say a few words descriptive of the site 
of the Duke's exploit. Middle Erf forest, then, 
which will be famous in the annals of the Knysna for 
all time to come, crowns the summit of a gentle hill, 
within two hundred yards of the public road leading to 
Pletifnberg's Bay. It is not more than a mile in 



THE ROYAL ELEPHANT HUNT AT THE KNYSNA. 199 

circumference, and stands completely detached from 
the great forest, which is about six hundred yards 
distant at the nearest point. It is admirably situated 
for holding an elephant at bay; and, in fact, if the 
Duke had had the choice of every part of the colony, 
he could not have selected a spot better adapted for 
his purpose. As soon as we reached Middle Erf, 
straps were put on the dogs, and they were held fast ; 
for the Duke intended to stalk the elephants if he 
should still find them in the open country; but on 
reconnoitering he could see nothing of them, and 
therefore the dogs were turned loose again, while most 
of the hunters were directed to go to the rear of the 
detached piece of forest and drive the elephants out 
of the north side, where the Duke and his personal 
escort were stationed. Presently one elephant showed 
himself at the Duke's side, trumpeting and fighting 
with the dogs. This elephant disappeared and came 
in view again half-a-dozen times, on two of which he 
raised his head and held up his trunk perpendicularly, 
as if trying to discover by that means what chance he 
had of making his escape. He evidently wanted to 
break covert, but hesitated to do so from seeing tne 
Duke and his party, who had stationed themselves 
directly across the path usually taken by the elephants 
in passing from Middle Erf to the great forest. The 
Duke had been hitherto standing about three hundred 



200 THE ELEPHANT. 

yards from the edge of the detached piece of forest, but 
lie and his escort now decided to advance within close 
range and fire at the elephant the next time he made 
his appearance. An advance was accordingly made by 
the party, but, to their surprise, no elephant or dogs 
were then to be seen. All had become suddenly quiet 
at that side, and it was very evident, from the direction 
in which their barking was heard, that the dogs had 
gone towards the rear. The fact is, there were three 
elephants afoot, and the particular one which had 
appeared repeatedly to the Duke and his party had 
managed to elude the dogs and conceal himself from 
view. Mr. George Bex, the captain of the hunt, now 
called to a boy at a little distance, and told him to 
mount his horse and ride to ascertain what was going 
on in the rear. It is right, however, here to remark 
that Middle Erf is intersected by a narrow road, 
each side of which is thickly overgrown with fine bush. 
Along this road the boy had to proceed, but he had 
not gone far into the fine bush when we saw him 
returning at full speed with the elephant after him in 
hot pursuit. The monster, which has great speed 
when he chooses to use it, was evidently gaining on 
the horse, while the boy, calling out in .Dutch, " Fire, 
fire ! for God's sake fire, or I shall be killed ! " rode 
for protection towards the Duke's party, and galloped 
round their flank. Upon that the elephant did not 



THE ROYAL ELEPHANT HUNT AT THE KNYSNA. 201 

slacken his pace, but with ears and tail erect he 
rushed on right in the direction of the Duke, who was 
standing in the centre of his line. a. here was something 
very peculiar in the way the elephant advanced. It 
did not look like either a trot or a gallop, but more 
resembled the gliding motion of a ship in smooth 
water, as if the immense monster were bearing down 
under a press of sail before the wind. It has been 
put into the Cape papers that the Duke went on 
his knee to fire, but nothing of the kind occurred. 
He coolly took his large gun from the hand of young 
Atkinson, who had been carrying it for him, and 
did not pull a trigger until the elephant was within 
less than twenty yards. He then discharged both 
barrels in quick succession, sending one bullet into 
the animal's head just above the right eye, and then 
hitting him with the second bullet a little lower 
down, between the trunk and the root of the right 
tusk. No one could possibly have been more steady 
and deliberate than the Duke was vhen he fired, 
and it was fortunate for himself that he was able to 
display such pluck ; for he allowed the elephant to get 
so close, that if he had been at all nervous, and his aim 
less sure, his own life and the lives of some of those at 
his side would inevitably have been sacrificed. As 
soon as the elephant received the Duke's two bullets 
he stopped in his career, shook his head, and reeled 



202 THE ELEPHANT. 

round, presenting his broadside ; he then staggered 
a few yards further, and when he was in the act of 
falling, some of the others fired; but these shots 
were superfluous, for the Duke had given the poor 
brute his quietus, and he would have died on the 
spot if not a second gun had been discharged. On 
either hand of the Duke on this occasion stood the 
five good men and true who were his personal 
escort throughout the whole hunt — Messrs. G. and 
T. Rex, A. H. and J. Duthie, and G. R. Atkinson. 
Besides these there were on the spot Sir W. Currie, 
General Bisset, Captain Gordon of the Petrel, and 
Captain Taylor. The Duke's own man> Smith — his 
fidus Achates, who is always near his master — was 
also present. The Governor and some others, who had 
been watching what took place from a hill at a little 
distance, now galloped up, and every one congra- 
tulated the Duke on his success. His escort then 
assisted him to get on the top of the elephant, 
where he stood, while all gave three lusty cheers, 
which were taken up by the hunters at the rear. 
The Duke then took off his jacket, and began skin- 
ning the elephant, in which all present joined. 
Meantime the officers' of the Petrel and some others 
went to the rear, where the hunters had got a 
second elephant at bay, which was despatched after 
receiving not less than forty shots. Around this 



THE ROYAL ELEPHANT HUNT AT THE KNYSNA. 203 

second elephant, after the first one had been skinned, 
the Duke, who had the necessary apparatus with him, 
placed his personal escort, and took a photograph of 
the group, which, it is to be regretted, was afterwards 
found to be a failure. He then sat upon the elephant, 
with Mr. G. Eex beside him, and they had their pho- 
tographs taken, but that did not turn out more suc- 
cessful. Before the elephants were skinned the Duke 
measured them both, and they were found to be 
just the same size — interesting twins, perhaps, who 
were wandering from forest to forest to complete, 
their education. Their measurement was ten feet in 
height, twenty-four feet from the tip of the trunk to 
the tip of the tail, and seventeen feet round the 
body. Whatever one may think of the elephant 
when ranging at large in his native wilds — and he 
is then certainly a noble-looking object — there can 
be no more ugly animal when dead ; but his flesh, 
if he is in condition, is good eating, as I can 
testify from experience. 

The Duke passed that night a short distance from 
Middle Erf, where the camp had been pitched, and 
the next morning rode into the village before noon, 
escorted by the hunters and a number of other 
horsemen. Shortly afterwards the waggons came in 
with the heads and skins of the elephants, and the 
whole place crowded round to have a sight. The 



204 THE ELEPHANT. 

Duke walked about highly elated, and evidently 
pleased that his trophies attracted so much notice. 
About one o'clock he started to go on board the 
Petrel, a great many accompanying him to the jetty. 
Here he took a warm farewell of those with whom 
he had become personally acquainted. As he shook 
hands with the Messrs. Hex, Duthies, and G. E. 
Atkinson, he thanked them in the kindest manner 
for having exerted themselves so much to render 
his hunt successful. He then got into the boat and 
was pulled off to the Petrel, which in about an hour 
afterwards steamed out to sea, amid the mingled 
cheers and regrets of all the inhabitants of the 
Knysna. 

Before leaving the village the Duke gave a liberal 
gratuity to each of the scouts, and after his arrival 
in Cape Town he forwarded presents to those who 
had been his personal escort. To one of them, who 
acted as captain of the hunt, he sent a handsome 
gold watch, and the others received valuable rings, 
which they will always highly prize on account of 
the donor. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

©jj* (Dstrkfj. 

L 

A voluminous massive body mounted on tall legs of 
four feet or more, and carrying a neck as long as 
its legs ; a very small head and very large feet ; 
great floating feathers ; a tail in the form of a plume — 
such are, in the physiognomy of the ostrich, the traits 
which, even at a distance, the least attentive look 
embraces. 

Approaching nearer, one sees that the head is bald 
and flat ; the eye large and bright ; the beak short, 
blunt, and depressed ; the neck slender, covered with 
grey clown ; that the feathers which cover the body 
are large, soft, half curled, and glossy, of a magni- 
ficent colour and brilliancy in the male ; the wings 
themselves, composed of feathers with flexible stems, 
are out of all proportion with the dimensions of the 
animal : they evidently cannot serve them for flying, 
and they seem to be there only as a kind of apology. 
If we examine one of these feathers, we discover, in 



206 THE OSTRICH. 

fact, that the barbules do not adhere together, as is 
the case with almost all other birds. 

No sooner does the ostrich begin to walk, than 
we are struck with the suppleness of his body; his 
long neck balances itself gracefully, his trunk takes 
a land of pitching motion, his stumps of wings 
open as if to catch the wind; and the ease of his 
march, the elasticity of his step, the extent and 
quickness of his strides, soon teach us that he is as 
generously endowed as a terrestrial, as he is deprived 
as an aerial animal. Besides, every one knows that 
the ostrich is one of the swiftest pedestrians that 
exist, perhaps the swiftest, for if, when he is hunted, 
he had sense enough to direct his flight in a straight 
line, the best horse would be incapable of running 
him down. 



II. 

One can understand that such a singular animal has 
given rise to many fables. " There is scarcely any 
subject of natural history about which more absurdities 
have been spoken," writes BurTon. The Arabs believe 
the ostrich to be the issue of a camel and a bird; 
Suidas gave him the neck and feet of a donkey; 
G. Warren made an aquatic bird of him ; others 
assure us that he never drinks. Leon L'Africain 



THE OSTKICH. 207 

refuses him the sense of hearing. It has been said 
that he feeds principally on stones, wood, and iron. 
Aldrovande represents him enjoying a horse-shoe; it 
has even baen pretended that he would swallow red- 
hot coals. Marmol, in his " Description de l'Afrique," 
says that he digests red-hot iron. " I would not 
deny," writes Buffon, " that they might sometimes 
even swallow red-hot iron, provided it was in very 
small quantities, but I do not think that even that 
could be done with impunity." They have been called 
the worst of mothers : StrutJuo dura est in pullos 
suos quasi non sint sui. 

They have been denied all intelligence, even to the 
extent of being too stupid to seek their safety by 
flight; "and," says Belon, "if by chance it finds a 
bush, they say that it is such a foolish bird, that 
in hiding its head therein it imagines its whole 
body to be safe." Belon had taken that from Pliny; 
Kolbe repeats it in his "Description du Cap de Bonne 
Esperance." A stone extracted from its stomach pro- 
cures good digestion to him who hangs it round 
his neck. But enough of fiction; let us now go to 
facts. 



III. 

The ostrich has. the sense of sight very fully deve- 
loped. It can see, it is said, six miles. It hears 



208 THE OSTRICH. 

equally well, and can never be approached except by 
surprise. 

It is quite otherwise with its sense of taste ; and 
the want of nicety in this sense, joined to the 
voracity and to the instinct common among birds, 
which leads it to introduce hard substances into its 
stomach, to augment the strength of trituration of 
that organ, causes it, in captivity at least, to swallow 
without discernment all objects, whatever they may 
be, which are presented to it, or which come within 
reach of its beak. Wood, bone, stones, metals, glass, 
paper, pieces of money, nails — all are good for it. 
As soon as it is seized, the object is forced down 
the throat by a backward movement. 

M. Henri Aucapitaine reports that the Bureau dcs 
Affaires Publiques, at Cherchell, possessed an ostrich 
penned in one of the interior courts. "Every even- 
ing," says he, "we amused ourselves by feeding him 
with old papers, envelopes, and pieces of news- 
papers, which he swallowed greedily, and with evident 
gusto." 

The traveller Bichardson saw an ostrich in an 
African village, where it wandered about in full 
liberty, gathering up everything, like a ragman. 

MM. Verreaux relate, that at the Cape, one 
of the ostriches which they possessed swallowed, 
one after the other, a large piece of soap and a 



THE OSTRICH. 209 

copper candlestick, which latter was some time after- 
wards ejected quite flattened. 

Ostriches were being exhibited at St. Quentin. 
One gentleman, on whose breast shone a beautiful 
gold chain, having approached within reach of the 
beak of one of these birds, saw, in the twinkling 
of an eye, his chain and watch pass from the neck 
and pocket of their proprietor, into the stomach of 
the gluttonous animal. 

An ostrich preserved in the Museum of Natural 
History had in its body, when it died, about a pound 
of stones, pieces of iron and copper, and half-worn 
coins. Vallisnieri dissected one of these animals, 
and here is the inventory of the objects which he 
found there : cords, stones, glass, iron, copper, 
pewter, and above all a lump of lead, the last thing 
swallowed, and which did not weigh less than a 
pound. One individual, opened by Perrault, had 
swallowed seventy pieces of copper money, already 
reduced to three-fourths by their sojourn in the robust 
organ which contained them. Perrault attributed their 
wear to a mechanical action. Vallisnieri, on the con- 
trary, without excluding the action of friction, saw 
there also a particular chemical action. This is the 
true opinion. Cuvier confirms it in these words : — 
"The bits of iron- found in the stomach" — speaking 
of an ostrich which had lived in a menagerie — "were 

P 



210 THE OSTRICH. 

not only worn as they would have been by trituration 
with other hard bodies, but they had evidently been 
corroded by some juice, which could be seen above 
all by the inequality of the chinks which had been 
produced. The fragments of nails presented all 
the appearance of true corrosion." 

Most frequently these errors of regime have no 
serious inconvenience. One ostrich had a nail im- 
planted in the inner sides of the gizzard ; another had 
two nails lodged in the thick part of the mesentery 
(where they could only have reached by perforating the 
stomach), and they had caused a very hard greenish 
concretion, with which they were entirely coated. Nei- 
ther of these animals appeared in the least unwell. 
But it often happens to those in captivity to become 
the victims of their avidity. One ostrich is mentioned 
which died from having swallowed a large quantity of 
quick-lime. The menagerie of Paris possessed, twelve 
years since, a magnificent couple, which it was hoped 
would breed ; but a stone having fallen on the glass 
roof of the den, the male and female hastened to swal- 
low the broken glass, which lacerated their entrails. 
In the same establishment an ostrich succumbed, after 
thirty-four days, to an attack of indigestion, caused by 
a dose of a pound and a half of nails. Dr. Berg men- 
tions one which was killed by swallowing an enormous 
shop-key. 



THE OSTRICH. 211 

IV. 

Grass is their favourite nourishment, as well in the 
wild state as in captivity; but to the aromatic and salty 
vegetation of the desert they constantly add molluscs, 
insects, and reptiles. A report addressed by Laghouat 
to the Societe d' Acclimatation states that they eat rats, 
jerboas, serpents, lizards, and slugs ; he adds, that 
they are very fond of grasshoppers at the Cape. The 
ostriches bred by the farmers sometimes swallow the 
chickens. M. Aucapitaine reports that molluscs formed 
the favourite food of the ostrich before referred to. 

The Arabs say that the ostrich kills the viper with a 
blow of its beak, and eats it. It eats also serpents, 
insects, grasshoppers, scorpions, lizards, large fruits 
called liadj, abounding in the desert, and proceeding 
from a creeping plant, bitter as turpentine, with leaves 
like those of the water-melon. As soon as they come 
out of the egg the young ostriches begin to seek insects 
and small reptiles, and it appears that they feed them- 
selves exclusively. 

It is agreed that ostriches support long fasts, which 
must be the case, for the desert can only have for its 
inhabitants beings inured to all privations ; but it is 
not so well agreed as to the limit of time during which 
they can remain without food. It would seem probable 
that the limit varies according to times and places 

p 2 



212 THE OSTRICH. 

(it must not be forgotten that the ostrich is nomadic), 
and ako whether the animal is free, tame, or captive. 

If we examine the reports sent to the Zoological 
Society from different parts of Africa, and collected with 
talent by M. Gosse, of Geneva, we are at first struck 
by seeing these reports differing often in the most nota- 
ble manner on almost all points. As to the regime of 
the ostrich, its character, its conjugal manners, the con- 
struction of its nest ; of the period of laying, the num- 
ber of eggs, their arrangement, the duration and the 
circumstances of incubation ; the numeric proportion 
of the sexes ; of the manner in which the ostrich is 
affected by the changes of time, or of the duration of its 
life, these reports are quite contradictory of each other. 
But most frequently the contradiction is but apparent; 
and on a little reflection one is convinced that, apart 
from some badly observed facts and some individual 
cases maladroitly generalized, the numerous divergen- 
ces of the reports simply attest changes to which, in 
order to accommodate itself to the variations of time and 
place, the ostrich in its peregrinations is constrained 
to conform its habits , so that, in fact, far from contra- 
dicting, these reports really agree with each other. It 
is simply this, that the habits of a wandering species 
have not in all their details an absolutely fixed charac- 
ter. A crowd of special cases depart from the rule, 
this departure being confined within certain limits, at 



THE 0STKICH. 213 

least for long periods of time. In a word, in this 
matter our formulas have but the value of means. 

Ostriches support thirst perfectly, but nothing is 
more false than to say that they never drink. 

The Arabs say that they drink a little every day 
when there is any water to be had. Messieurs 
Verreaux have seen them drinking in the Elephant 
River. 

General Daumas reports that he has known them 
make many days' journey in search of water. It 
is said that those which have been deprived of 
water for a long time show extraordinary joy at the 
approach of a storm. They are then seen running 
about in every direction, with their wings extended, 
turning themselves about, and at last rushing off in 
the direction of the lightning. 

They bathe, always taking care to choose water 
sufficiently shallow, so that when they sit down their 
heads may still be above water; but they cannot 
swim. An English traveller in South Africa, Mr. 
Gordon Cumming, says that they are exceedingly 
fond of salt. Barley is the food which those seem 
to prefer which the Arabs do not send out into the 
pasture fields. 



214 THE OSTRICH. 



The muscular strength of the ostrich is extraordi- 
nary. "In the desert," says M. Daumas, "it has 
no other enemy to fear but man. It resists the 
dog, the jackal, the hyrona, and the eagle : man alone 
triumphs over it." 

Livingstone remarks that he saw one, pursued by 
dogs, break the spine of the one nearest to it with 
a blow of its foot. M. Edouard Verreaux saw a 
negro die from a blow received in the stomach 
from the foot of an ostrich. An Arab hunter, of 
whom more presently, narrowly escaped a similar 
fate. 

No better idea of its strength can be given than 
the fact of its having been employed for riding 
from the remotest period. Mounted ostriches figured 
in the Eoman circus. 

A certain tyrant of Egypt, named Firmin, employed 
them for his use ; and the natives of Africa often 
do the same. 

"One sees at the Cape," says Sparrman, "in the 
Government menagerie, several tame ostriches. These 
easily allow themselves to be mounted by those who 
wish to make the attempt." 

We read that an English traveller, Mr. Moore, 
encountered in the Sahara an Arab mounted on an 



THE OSTRICH. 215 

ostrich crossing the desert. He took the bird to 
Fatatenda, whence M. Connor sent him to the 
Governor of Jamesfort, on the Gambia. 

Examples are abundant. We will only stop to 
relate that cited by Adanson, the truth of which is 
above suspicion. 

" The same day two ostriches, which had been 
kept for about two years in this district (Podor), 
gave me a spectacle which is too rare not to merit 
being reported. 

" These gigantic birds, which I had never seen 
except in the burning and sandy country on the 
left of the Niger, I saw there at my ease. Though 
still young, these ostriches almost equalled in size 
the largest. They were/ so tame that two little 
negroes mounted together the larger of the two; 
this one no sooner felt their weight than it started 
off full speed, and carried them several times round 
the village ; and it seemed only possible to stop it 
by barring the passage. This trial pleased me so 
much that I wished to have it repeated ; and in 
order to try their strength I mounted a full-grown 
negro on the smallest, and two others on the largest. 
This load did not seem disproportioned to their 
vigour. At first they started off at a cautious canter, 
but presently, .when they had got excited, they 
spread their wings, as if to catch the wind, and went 



216 THE OSTKICH. 

off at such a speed that they seemed scarcely to 
touch the ground. 

' 'Every one has seen a partridge running, and knows 
that no man is capable of catching it ; and it is not 
difficult to imagine that if it had a greater stride its 
speed would be considerably augmented. 

" The ostrich runs like the partridge, and I am 
persuaded that they could leave far behind them 
the swiftest English horse that could be put in 
pursuit of them. It is true they could not keep up 
as long a race as the horses, but undoubtedly they 
would accomplish a short one more quickly. I have 
been many times witness of this spectacle, which 
should give some idea of the prodigious strength 
of the ostrich, and the use which could be made 
of it if means could be found of mastering and 
instructing it as horses are taught." 

The largest of these two ostriches must then have 
carried upwards of 300 pounds weight without 
apparent inconvenience. 

M. Edouard Verreaux relates, on the contrary, that 
having mounted a captive ostrich in a shed, the bird 
had the greatest difficulty in carrying him. But this 
experience by no means invalidates contrary testi- 
mony. M. Gosse makes the reasonable observation 
that this faculty which the ostrich possesses of carrying 
weights so disproportioned to the size of its body, is 



TEE OSTEICH. 217 

doubtless due to a physiological phenomenon, which is 
common to birds which rise into the air, viz., that 
not only are the greater part of its bones vacuous, and 
in direct communication with the lungs, but the bird 
can also at will fill with warm air many membranous 
reservoirs, which are found near the wings, under the 
stomach, and around the thighs — veritable air balloons, 
which lighten the weight borne by the legs. When it 
is not racing or otherwise excited, these sacks are not 
inflated, and consequently the ostrich cannot support 
so considerable a weight. 



VI. 

The speed of the animal does not yield to its strength. 
Cuvier says that it surpasses that of all known 
animals. " It is such," adds he, " that those who 
mount the ostrich without having become accustomed 
to it, are soon suffocated, not being able to get their 
breath." This nearly happened to an inhabitant of 
Paris, M. Notre, who being at Marseilles in the 
year 1819, then weighing 1401bs., mounted a male 
Egyptian ostrich of large size. It took him such an 
astounding race, that he contemplates it even to this 
day with affright. Happily, he clung tightly round the 
neck of the bird, which at last stopped in some brush- 



218 THE OSTEICH. 

wood. Aclanson says that the two ostriches of which 
we have before spoken, although they had not attained 
all the strength which age and liberty would have given 
them, and although laden with a considerable weight, 
"would have left far behind them the swiftest 
English horse that could have been sent in pursuit 
of them." 

"I have seen them," says Sparrman, "sometimes 
within two gun-shots of me, and I have started in 
pursuit, but always without success." 

Xenophon relates that the cavaliers of Cyrus were 
not more happy. Livingstone says that one can no 
more distinguish the legs of an ostrich when at its full 
speed, than one can see the spokes of the wheels of a 
carriage driven at full gallop ; and he estimates that 
the bird can make twenty-seven miles an hour. 



vn. 

The ostrich shines less in point of intelligence ; but 
it by no means merits the reputation for stupidity 
which authors vie with each other in making for it. 
It is a gentle bird, gay, pacific, vigilant, eminently 
sociable, and not wanting, whatever may be said, in 
any of the family instincts. 

Cumming one day surprised a flock of twelve 



THE OSTRICH. 219 

ostriches, which were no larger than guineafowls. 
"The mother," says he, "sought to deceive us after 
the manner of the wild duck. She started off, ex- 
tending her wings, then let herself fall to the ground 
as though she were wounded; whilst the male cun- 
ningly departed with the little ones in an opposite 
direction.'' 

Livingstone frequently mentions young coveys going 
under the conduct of a male, which endeavoured to 
appear lame, in order to turn upon himself the 
attention of the hunters. 

We read in the Chevaux du Sahara that when the 
hunters catch up the young ones, in sight of the male, 
he becomes excessively agitated and manifests the most 
vivid grief ; but he does not give himself up to moan- 
ing. He is not wanting in courage. 

Here is an instance which proves it. It is related in 
a report, addressed from Geryville to the Zoological 
Society (Paris). " Si-Djelloul-Ben-Hamza, and his bro- 
ther Si-Mohammed-Ben-Hamza, one day, whilst hunt- 
ing the ostrich, came upon the track of a whole family, 
conducted by one male and two females. Si-Moham- 
med, having come first in sight of the ostriches, fired 
and wounded one of the . females. The male then 
rushed at him, and struck the horse on the chest with 
his leg, on which the latter threw his rider and fled, 
i The ostrich then turned its blows against Si-Moham- 



220 THE OSTRICH. 

Hied, and only left him, deprived of consciousness, 
on seeing Si-Djelloul coming to the assistance of his 
brother." 

" Whilst riding out one morning," says Thunberg, 
who was then at the Cape, "I passed near to a female 
ostrich, which was brooding ; she rose, and started in 
pursuit of me, in order to prevent my seeing her eggs, 
or young ones. As soon as I turned my horse's head 
round she fled, but when I continued my journey she 
commenced again to pursue me. " 

The excessive timidity with which they are re- 
proached is but the result of the incessant hunting to 
which they are subjected. Those kept in captivity are 
not in the slightest degree timid, nor are those which 
have no knowledge of man. 

Eichardson relates, that having reached the plateau 
of Hamala, where the ostriches have not been dis- 
turbed, he had the grand sight of a flock of eleven 
of these birds feeding tranquilly like sheep, without 
showing any disposition to fly. 

I have said that they are very sociable. A flock of 
from two to three hundred has occasionally been met 
with in the desert, mingling with giraffes, cougas, 
zebras, and antelopes. This sociability renders it an 
easy matter to tame them. 

"Young ostriches are easily tamed," says General 
Daumas ; " they play with the children, and sleep in 



THE OSTKICH. 221 

the -tent. When removing, they follow the camels; 
there is no example of one of these thus trained ever 
taking flight. They are very gay, they frolic with 
the horsemen, dogs, &c. Should a hare start up, all 
the people are off in pursuit ; and the ostrich becomes 
excited, and takes part in the chase. When it meets 
a child having any food in its hand, it quietly throws 
the child on the ground, and tries to take away what- 
ever it was carrying. The ostrich is a great thief, 
or rather it wants to swallow whatever it sees. The 
Arabs are very watchful of it when they are counting 
their money. It would soon cause the disappearance 
of a few dollars." 

It is by no means rare to see a tired child, at a 
short distance from the douar, placed on the back of 
an ostrich, which with its little load directs its steps 
straight to the tent, the little cavalier holding on by 
the feathers. On journeys, when it is wished to pre- 
vent its running to right or left, a cord is passed round 
its legs, and it is held by another cord attached to 
this one. 

In the Senaar country, they are bred in the same 
way as poultry is bred elsewhere. 

According to Dr. Berg, in many black villages on the 
banks of the Senegal, and in most of the camps of the 
Maures, on the right bank of the river, one ostrich 
at least is counted among their indispensables. These 



222 THE OSTEICH. 

birds are not intended as objects of commerce ; tbey 
never kill them ; they form, in fact, part of the tribe, 
or of the village. 

Sometimes they are hatched in the tent by artificial 
means. 

As soon as they are six months old, no further 
trouble is taken with them, and they go to seek 
nourishment in the neighbouring pastures, taking care, 
however, always to find themselves close to the tent 
at meal times. The farmers in the neighbourhood of 
the Cape allow them to feed in their fields, and they 
never attempt to fly. 

Amongst the abiades of the Sahara, flocks of twenty 
or thirty individuals follow the cattle to the pastures, 
and return with them every evening. One traveller 
saw at Esne some ostriches belonging to the Gover- 
nor promenading freely in the town, visiting the 
markets and returning to the palace in the evening 

This attachmsnt and obedience is obtained by 
treating the ostrich with kindness. It is necessary to 
caress them often when they are young, to be careful 
not to frighten them, and never to be sharp with them. 
It has been stated that ostriches which have been 
given away and taken a very long distance from their 
domicile, have returned to their first master. 

" I find them," says M. Bouteille, director of the 
Zoological Gardens at Grenoble, " more susceptible of 



THE OSTRICH. 223 

attachment than most of our domestic animals. They 
allow themselves to be touched and caressed by the 
persons who have the care of them, and they appear 
quite sensible of the pleasure. I can take our young 
ostriches into my hands and carry them away, without 
the parents making the least hostile demonstration, 
whilst the sight alone of a strange man or animal is 
sufficient to put them in a fury; then they set up 
their feathers and lower their heads, like hens defend- 
ing their brood," 



CHAPTER XV. 

C&e (Dsfriclj (continued), 

VIII. 

During the period of laying, this pacific humour, with 
the male at least, gives place to a violent character. 
The males are then said to exhibit such rage that it is 
difficult to approach them; and sometimes even their 
masters have been obliged to defend themselves against 
them with stones, clubs, and even guns. North of 
the equator the laying season begins towards the end of 
autumn, and continues until spring. Its period and 
duration depend on the degree of fertility of the year ; 
but in any case it takes up a large share of the life 
of an ostrich. The Arabs say even that if food is 
abundant this troubled period is prolonged through a 
great portion of the year. It is then that the male 
takes that roseate tint on his legs and neck, which is 
caused by the activity acquired by circulation ; he puts 
himself in pursuit of the female, and closing his beak 
and drawing up his neck, the top of which is prodi- 
giously dilated, he gives utterance to repeated hoarse 



THE OSTRICH. 225 

guttural cries, which so much resemble the roaring of a 
lion, though more feeble, that the Hottentots are some- 
times deceived ; and one of the employes of the mena- 
gerie of Paris mistook it many times in the night. 
Mr. Hardy confirms this fact. The female flies before 
the male. The pursuit continues four or five days, 
during which the male neither eats nor drinks. The 
female does not separate from the male, and only quits 
him when the education of the family is completed. 



IX. 

Both sexes take part in making the nest; some say 
that the nest is built on flat ground, and in open 
places, others on ground a little elevated and sur- 
rounded. These differences evidently arise out o~ 
local conditions. 

The nest is dug out of the sand by the beak ; the 
thrown-out sand is disposed all round, forming a 
projecting rim ; on the outside a trench is dug for 
carrying off the water. Laying is rapid or slow, 
according to the greater or less abundance of food, and 
even according to its quality. All the females of the 
same household lay their eggs in the same nest. 

One female will lay from twenty-five to thirty eggs, 
each egg being equal in weight to about twenty-fivo 

Q 



226 THE OSTRICH. 

hen-eggs. Besides the eggs sat upon, others are placed 
outside of the nest, often in little cavities dug out 
specially. 

What is their destination ? It is a discovery of M. 
Vaillant, to whom we owe the first exact ideas we have 
had as to the habits of the ostrich. 

A female had got up about twenty yards from him : 
" Suspecting that it was a sitter, I hastened to reach 
the place from which shs had risen, and I found eleven 
eggs, still warm, and four others dispersed at two or 
three feet from the nest. I called my companions, who 
came up at once. I broke one of the eggs, and found 
a young one already formed, the size of a chicken, 
ready to come out of its shell. I supposed all the eggs 
were rotten ; my people thought very differently : each 
one hastened to fall on the nest ; but Amiroo took 
possession of four others, desiring to give me a feast, 
and assuring me that I should find them excellent. It 
was then I learnt from this savage that which the 
Hottentots themselves are ignorant of, and which is not 
known to naturalists, since no one that I am aware of 
has spoken of it, and which I have had more than one 
opportunity of verifying, viz., that the ostrich always 
places within reach of the nest a certain number of 
eggs proportioned to those which she destines for in- 
cubation. These eggs not being sat upon are preserved 
fresh for a long time, and the provident instinct of the 



THE OSTRICH. 227 

mother destines them for the first nourishment of those 
which are ahout to be hatched. Experience has con- 
vinced me of the truth of this assertion ; and whenever 
I have found the nests of ostriches, many eggs have 
been found separated in this way." 

The information of M. Vaillant is confirmed by 
that which Achmet, quartermaster of the spahis, 
related to M. Aucapitaine in 1856. " At the moment," 
says he, " when the you' g are hatched, the mother 
goes to seek one of the supernumerary eggs, breaks 
it, and makes the young ones partake of the nourish- 
ment." According to other natives, she conducts her 
young ones to the nutritious eggs, and makes them 
open them. The report sent from Geryville to the 
Zoological Society (Paris), asserts beyond this, that 
if the ostrich should break one of the eggs on which 
she is sitting, she replaces it by one of the outside 
eggs. Livingstone says that, according to the natives 
of South Africa, the supernumerary eggs are intended 
for the need of those first hatched, " in order that 
they may wait until the others are hatched, and that 
all may then go together to pasture elsewhere ; " an 
explanation which has some appearance of truth, as 
the hatching takes place successively. 

Incubation takes place day and night, or at night 
only, according to the degree of the circumambient 
temperature. The carcases of jackals, which are 

Q 2 



228 THE OSTRICH. 

found in the neighbourhood, bear witness to the 
vigilance as well as to the strength of the male. 
The hatching of the young takes place successively, 
as we shall see. It is pretty generally agreed that 
the number of females is about double that of males. 
Their size at the time of hatching is about that of 
a small hen. It would appear that they continue 
with their parents until they are full grown. 



X. 

JElian relates that the ostrich is hunted in two 
ways : — 

" The ostrich is taken by running down. It de- 
scribes in its flight an exterior circle, whilst the 
hunters close up its route by following it in an 
interior circle, and thus, by tiring it out, they at last 
catch it. 

"The following manoeuvre is also employed in 
taking it. When it has been discovered by a clever 
man accustomed to this kind of chase, he fixes some 
very sharp-pointed spears round the nest, in a 
vertical position; the steel shines, and the hunter, 
retired to a distance, awaits in ambush the upshot of 
the event. Meanwhile the ostrich returns from her 
pasture full of tenderness for her young, and burning 
with the desire to rejoin them. At first she examines 



THE OSTRICH. 229 

here and there, and casts her looks all round for fear 
that some one should observe her ; at last, overcome, 
and yearning with maternal love, she spreads her 
wings like a sail, and, carried away in a blundering 
blind career, she rushes upon her nest, but — oh, 
touching spectacle ! — she encounters the spears, and 
perishes, pierced through and through. The hunter 
then comes up and takes the little ones with their 
mother. " 

Let us now pass on to more positive facts. At 
Khartoum, an old negro, who in his youth had been 
one of the most intrepid buccaneers of the country, 
thus described the hunt of the ostrich, as it is now 
practised by the natives : — 

" The ostrich is hunted on horseback, and the riders 
are obliged to be accompanied by camels laden with 
provisions. When one is discovered, they follow it 
slowly without losing sight of it : the colossal bird 
is not slow in leaving them far behind ; but having 
reached a certain distance, as if to bid defiance to 
the hunters, it stands and awaits them; when they 
are on the point of coming up with it, it starts off 
on its rapid course, and then again waits for them. 
The riders always follow it slowly. It is usually at 
daybreak that the hunters commence the campaign, 
and whilst the heat is not too much felt the ostrich 
can, without danger, make parade of its superior 



230 THE OSTRICH. 

speed; nevertheless, these repeated races fatigue it 
insensibly, and when the sun becomes more powerful, 
the animal, which has already several times renewed 
the same plan, begins to exhibit signs of fatigue; 
and then the hunters, who have hitherto restrained 
their steeds, rush after it with full speed, and are not 
long in exhausting and overcoming it. The first of 
the hunters that arrives within reach of it deals it 
a heavy blow with a club, and fells it to the ground. 
The riders leap from their horses, and one of them 
cuts the animal's neck, and puts its foot in the 
wound in order to prevent its plumes being soiled 
in the blood whilst it is fluttering about. When the 
bird has ceased to live they despoil it of its plumage, 
and if the horses and provisions permit, the chase is 
continued." 

The same method appears to be in use at the 
Cape, as Sparrman relates : — " I have been told that 
a man mounted on the best horse could never reach 
the ostriches when they are off; but the hunter 
must nevertheless continue his chase, taking care to 
look after his horse, and prevent him from galloping 
too fast, whilst he can still perceive the bird from 
the summit of some hill. Then the ostrich, which 
has descended it running, cools down when it reaches 
the bottom, its joints stiffen, and it rarely fails, 
by at least the third race, in allowing itself to 






THE OSTEICH. 231 

be taken, either alive or by a shot from the hunter's 
gun." 

The Arabs of the Great Desert adopt a quite 
different plan. General Daumas has given us on 
this point, in the " Chevaux du Sahara," details full 
of interest, which he obtained from a professional 
hunter. We cannot do better than reproduce them, 
always abridging considerably. 

There are in the desert two methods of hunting 
the ostrich : on horseback, and by watching. 

"The real hunt is that on horseback. It is an 
excursion which last3 for seven or eight days. The 
most favourable period is that of great heat. A 
dozen hunters join together ; each of them is accom- 
panied by a servant, mounted on a camel, which 
carries water, barley for the horses, wheat flour, 
dates, a saucepan, and divers utensils. The horse 
has undergone for seven or eight days a special 
training. The rider has no other weapon than a club 
of wild olive or rosemary, from four to five feet long, 
and very heavy at one end. 

" They start in the morning, and after one or two 
days' march, when they have arrived near the place 
where the ostriches have been signalled, and they 
begin to find traces of them, they stop and encamp. 
The next day tv/o intelligent servants, entirely naked 
(with the exception of a handkerchief, used as drawers), 



232 THE OSTRICH. 

are sent to reconnoitre. They carry a goat- skin full 
of water and a little bread, and they walk on until 
they discover the ostriches. As soon as they have 
perceived them, they lie down and watch them; 
then one of them remains, and the other goes to 
warn the company. 

" The horsemen, guided by the man, proceed slowly 
towards the place where the ostriches are. Arrived 
at the last rising ground which can conceal them, 
they dismount. Two scouts creep forward to assure 
themselves «that the birds are still in the same 
place. If these confirm the first informants, each 
one gives his horse a drink, but moderately, from 
the water carried on his camel's back. They deposit 
all the baggage on the spot where they had stopped, 
and without leaving any one in charge of it. Each 
horseman carries a goat - skin at his side. The 
servants and the camels follow in the tracks of the 
horses ; each camel carries no more than the horse's 
barley supper, its own supper, and water for the men 
and animals. 

" The hunters then separate and form a circle round 
the chase at a very great distance, and in such a 
manner as not to be perceived. The servants wait 
on the spot where their masters separated until 
they see them at their posts, then they march 
straight on : the ostriches fly in terror, but they 



THE OSTRICH. 233 

encounter the horsemen, who at first only endeavour 
to drive them back into the circle. The ostriches 
thus begin to spend their strength in a rapid race, 
for as soon as they are surprised they do not husband 
their breath. They several times renew these man- 
oeuvres, always seeking to get out of the circle, and 
always returning, frightened by the horsemen. At 
the first signs of fatigue the hunters fall upon them. 
After some time the flock begins to disperse, and 
to show signs of weakness and lassitude by open- 
ing their wings ; the horsemen then, certain of their 
prey, slacken their pace. 

" Each one chooses an ostrich and follows it, and 
when he reaches it he deals it a heavy blow on the 
head, either from behind or the side, which fells it. 
The rider then dismounts in order to bleed it, taking 
care to hold the throat away from the body, so as not 
to soil the feathers. When the ostrich is on the point 
of being caught, it is so fatigued that, if the hunter 
does not wish to kill it, it is a very easy matter to 
bring it back quietly, directing it with the stick; it can 
then scarcely walk." 

The ostrich is taken by watching for it when it has 
laid its eggs, that is about the middle of the month of 
November. Five or six hunters take with them two 
camels laden with -provisions for a month at least, and 
begin by looking out for places where water has recently 



234 THE OSTRICH. 

fallen. They are furnished on this occasion with guns 
and an abundant supply of ammunition. When they 
have discovered traces of the ostrich, the hunters 
examine them carefully ; if they cross to and fro, and 
the grass is trampled under foot and not eaten, the 
bird has for certain made its nest in the neighbour- 
hood. 

In the morning, whilst the female is sitting, the 
hunters dig a hole on each side of the nest, and at 
twenty yards' distance, sufficiently deep to contain a 
man ; they then cover it up with the long grass, so 
well known in the desert, in such a manner that the 
gun only shall appear: in these holes two of the 
best marksmen are lodged. 

At the sight of this work the frightened female runs 
to rejoin the male, but he beats her and forces her to 
return to her nest. If these preparations were made 
whilst the male is sitting, he would go off in search 
of the female, and neither of them would be met 
with again. 

They are careful not to disturb the returned female, 
the rule being to kill the male first ; they therefore 
wait his return from pasture. Towards midday he 
arrives, and the hunter makes ready. The ostrich 
when sitting extends its wings in such a manner as to 
cover all the eggs; in this position it has bent up its 
extremely long legs under its thighs, a very favourable 



THE OSTRICH. 235 

position for the marksman, who aims always in such a 
manner as to break the animal's legs, for if only 
wounded elsewhere it would still have a chance of 
making its escape. " Immediately the ostrich is 
struck down, they run up to it and bleed it. The 
marks of blood are covered over with sand, the body 
is carefully hidden." 

At sunset the female returns : the absence of the 
male does not disquiet it ; she believes it to be feed- 
ing, and sits on her nest. She is killed by the one of 
the two hunters who had not fired at the male. 

They also shoot the ostrich when it goes to drink. 
The hunters simply make a hole near the water, and 
lie in ambush till the animal comes to quench its 
thirst. 

The Arabs of the desert say of a good thing, that 
"it is like hunting the ostrich." 

Bruce relates that the Arabs of Fazolp hunt the 
ostrich with dogs ; they carry it off dead or alive, 
when the bird, which they have pursued without 
relaxation, falls from sheer exhaustion. 

On the other extremity of Africa the bushmen 
have recourse to strategy. 

They disguise themselves as ostriches. " This dis- 
guise," says a traveller, " is composed of a kind of 
saddle, the lower part of which is furnished with 
ostrich feathers in such a manner as to imitate the 



236 THE OSTRICH. 

body of the bird, to which is added a head and 
neck of an ostrich stuffed with straw. 

" The hunter begins by painting his legs white ; 
then he places the saddle of feathers on his shoul- 
ders, and holding with his right hand the lower part 
of the neck, in his left he carries his bow and poi- 
soned arrows. ' I have seen,' says our author, ' the 
ostrich so perfectly imitated, that at a few yards' 
distance it was impossible to discover the fraud.' 

" This human bird pretends to browse the grass, 
turns his head from side to side with an air of 
intelligence, shakes his feathers, walks and runs 
alternately, until he arrives within bow-shot of the 
flock ; and when the ostriches take flight on seeing one 
of their number struck by an arrow, he flies with 
them. Sometimes the male ostriches give chase to 
this singular bird ; then he manoeuvres to avoid 
them, taking care that they shall not scent him, 
for from the moment he finds himself so placed as 
to cross their scent, the charm is broken; then it 
only remains for him to throw away his saddle 
and to fly with all speed, in order to avoid a wing 
blow, which would knock him down instantly," 



CHAPTER XVI. 
Crocobilcs attb Caimans, 

I. — The Scene and the Actors. 

There are three species or sub-species of crocodiles ; 
first, the cayman, also called the alligator; second, 
the crocodile; and third, the gavial. 

The cayman, or alligator, may be thus recognized : 
when the mouth is closed the fourth tooth on each 
side of the lower jaw passes into a hole in the 
upper jaw. 

In the crocodile, in place of the hole just mentioned 
there is only an indentation, so that the fourth 
lower tooth remains visible when the mouth is 
closed. 

Lastly, in the gavial the upper jaw on each side 
is hollowed, not by a hole, as in the cayman, nor by 
one indentation, as with the crocodile, but with two 
indentations, in which the first and fourth lower 
teeth lodge. Moreover, the gavial has very straight 
and lengthy jaws, which form a kind of beak, more 
or less cylindrical. 



238 CROCODILES AND CAYMANS. 

Should you happen to encounter one of the croco- 
dilian species on your journey, you are now in a 
position to determine at once to what species your 
friend belongs, whether he is a cayman, crocodile, 
or gavial. 

The caymans belong to America, gavials to Asia, 
and crocodiles to America, Asia, Africa, and Oceanica. 

All are inhabitants of hot regions, some even are 
found in the hot — almost boiling — mineral waters 
of Florida. The greater part live in the soft waters 
of rivers and lakes. A small number frequent the 
sea. Europe and Australia* are exempt. 



II. — Numbers. 



Count Forbin, in his " Voyage a Siam," says that 
he saw a great number in the neighbourhood of 
Bancok. 

" The rivers of Java, both at their mouths <md in 
the interior, are infested," says Thunberg (" Voyages 
en Japon "), " with crocodiles of a monstrous size. 
Often in my botanic excursions I saw them asleep 
in the sun." 



* Alligators were found in the river Burdekin, North Aus- 
tralia, by McKinlay, some of which were nearly twenty feet 
long. — Translator. 



NUMBERS. 239 

A recent account states that the rivers and lakes of 
Ceylon are stocked with crocodiles. Their hideous 
heads come out of the water ten or a dozen at a time. 
They are very common in Jamaica. La Condamine 
has seen a multitude of caymans from twelve to fifteen 
feet long, and even longer, in the Guayaquil; some 
stretched on the mud in the sun, others floating on 
the water like trunks of trees covered with a knotty 
desiccated bark. They abound in the Amazon, in the 
Oyapoc, in the Bay de Vincent Pin con, and in the lakes 
of that region, to such an extent that, according to 
Lacepede, they impede by their multitude the navi- 
gation of the boats. M. de la Borde relates, that 
whilst running along the eastern shores of South 
America in a canoe, he encountered a dozen great 
caymans at the mouth of a little river which he 
wished to enter. As these animals were obstructing 
the passage, several shots were fired, in the hope of 
dispersing them. This was useless, and the narrator 
was obliged to wait for two hours before they thought 
proper to retire. 

Let us pass now into Africa. The Dutch traveller 
Hamel (" Hist. Gene des Voyages ") reports, that the 
rivers of the Corea are infested with crocodiles. Bosman, 
in his " Description de la Guinee," says that they are 
found in all the rivers of that country, and that he has 



240 CROCODILES AND CAYMANS. 

seen as many as fifty in a day, and some of them 
twenty feet long. " The crocodile," writes M. de Gol- 
berry, in his "Fragments d'un Voyage en Afrique," 
"is found in all the rivers which empty into the. sea 
between Cape Blanc and Cape de Palmes, and even 
in a great number of lagoons." Adanson has seen 
nearly two hundred at one time on the great Senegal 
river, floating together, which might easily be 
mistaken for the trunks of trees borne along by the 
stream. 

M. du Chaillu thus describes a scene presented to 
him on the Anengue, a river of the Gaboon, at its 
junction with the Ogabay. "We then entered the 
Anengue. Its surface was covered with black mud 
banks, on which swarmed an incredible number o 
crocodiles. There were many hundreds of these dis- 
gusting monsters sunning themselves or wallowing 
in the mud, and diving to the bottom of the water in 
search of food. I have never seen a more hideous 
spectacle. Some of them were at least twenty feet 
long, and when they opened their horrible jaws, one 
might have said that they could have swallowed our 
little boats without any difficulty." 

Livingstone has met with them in many of the 
rivers of South Africa. The quantity of them living 
on the Liambye is prodigious. " Every instant," he 



NUMBERS. 241 

writes, u we see them sunning themselves on the 
sand-banks." 

The traveller ascending the Nile does not encounter 
them until he reaches Upper Egypt. Mr. Combes 
("Voyage en Egypte, en Nubie," &c.) reports, that the 
first he met with on his route was found above Syout. 
f 4 1 had but just embarked when they pointed out to 
me a crocodile stretched out in the sun. He was, as 
it were, embedded in the sand, and appeared to be 
asleep. Nevertheless, he lifted his head at our ap- 
proach, and slipped slowly into the Nile." According 
to the people of the country, these animals do not 
pass below Said, because a venerable sheik had said, 
U You may come here, but you must not pass this bar- 
rier." But above this point they rapidly become very 
numerous, as may be judged by the following little 
picture, in the neighbourhood of Keneh : — " Some of 
the palm trees in the neighbourhood of the town 
were bending under the weight of enormous crocodiles 
suspended from their branches, and swinging in the 
wind. The hunters, who had made a successful war 
on these formidable animals, had left them to dry in 
the sun, in order afterwards to offer them to the gentry 
of the country." Having passed Luxor and proceed- 
ing towards Emeh, Mr. Combes remarks that, — 

" Since we left Djirjeh, when the weather was calm 
and the sun hot, the numerous sand-banks scattered 

B 



242 CROCODILES AND CAYMANS. 

about in the river were covered with crocodiles. If 
the boats approached them, they would move into the 
water slowly, and allowing sufficient time to observe 
them leisurely. At length," he writes, "when we 
reached Upper Nubia, the Nile was sprinkled with 
small islands covered with pelicans ; on some we per- 
ceived monstrous crocodiles asleep, and which awoke 
at our approach. Often, in the midst of the river, we 
saw the heads of these formidable amphibia, which 
would disappear under the waves after inhaling a little 
air." 

We have said enough to prove to our readers, and 
those hunters whose courage is but ill satisfied with 
the perilless exploits accomplished in the suburbs of 
our cities, that for many a year to come game will not 
be wanting for those who will undertake the enterprise 
of purging the earth of these monsters which defile 
and oppress it. 



III. — Habits. 

Crocodiles live on land and in the water, with a 
decided preference for the latter. They swim with 
extreme rapidity, aided by their powerful compressed 
tail. Nevertheless, all are not equally aquatic. The 
caymans are less so than the others. The gavials 



HABITS. 243 

are the most aquatic, a fact which could only be dis- 
covered by an inspection of the hind-legs. In the 
gavial, the toes of the hind-feet are webbed to the tip, 
and these feet are denticulated the whole length of the 
external side : they are evidently intended to perform 
the functions of fins ; whereas with the caymans, not 
only does this denticulation not exist, but the toes are 
only webbed half their length. 

Rivers- which overflow, and whose shores are covered 
with mud, marshy lakes, swampy savannahs — these 
are their favourite haunts. It is said that the gavial 
sometimes quits the waters of the Ganges, and will 
venture almost into the sea. 

All are carnivorous and extremely voracious. Living- 
stone says that they generally seek their prey at night ; 
Du Chaillu reports that they do so in the morning 
and evening; but the upshot shows clearly that the 
crocodilian appetite is equally good at all hours of day 
or night. 

Hidden amongst the aquatic plants or squatting in 
the mud, at other times motionless on the surface of 
the water, or floating silently, like the trunks of trees, 
stranded on the mud, or carried on by the current, they 
await patiently their prey, or they go to meet it with 
their jaws extended, their eyes sweeping the liquid 
expanse and its muddy shores. " One does not see 
the slightest motion," says Plumier. " We perceive that 

b 2 



244 CROCODILES AND CAYMANS. 

it has changed its place, but in a manner almost 
imperceptible, so quiet are its movements ; it might 
then be taken for a piece of floating wood, and I have 
many times been so deceived." This comparison has 
presented itself to the minds of Adanson, of La Con- 
damine, and of all travellers who have seen crocodiles 
in their wild state. Their colour, their elongated form, 
their immobility, the silence which they keep, deceive 
their victims. Fish constitute their ordinary diet; 
as extras they occasionally add any of the animals 
which come to repose on the water, or to quench their 
thirst on its shores. 

When the saurian perceives its prey it dives, and 
proceeds under the water towards it, and seizing it by 
the legs or the muzzle, drags it down to the bottom 
of the water. To use the words of the missionary just 
quoted, "the unsuspecting game allows itself- to be 
approached so near that it is snapped up before it has 
time to spread its wings for flight." Large cattle are 
not safe from their voracity. " It very rarely hap- 
pens," says Livingstone, " that a herd of cows crosses 
the Liambye without some of the young becoming the 
prey of the monster." M. du Chaillu witnessed the 
following scene: — As we were paddling along I per- 
ceived in the distance ahead a beautiful gazelle looking 
meditatively into the waters of the lagoon, of which 
from time to time it took a drink. I stood up to get a 



HABITS. 245 

shot, and we approached with the utmost silence, hut 
just as I raised my gun to fire a crocodile leaped 
out of the water, and like a flash dived back again 
with the struggling animal in his powerful jaws. So 
quickly did the beast take his prey, that though I fired 
at him I was too late. I do not think my bullet hit 
him ; if it did, it struck some impenetrable part of his 
mail. I would not have believed that this huge and 
unwieldy animal could move with such velocity ; but 
the natives told me that the deer often falls a prey to 
the crocodile. Sometimes he even catches the leopard, 
but then there is a harder battle than the poor little 
deer* could make." 

In America the cayman will attack the jaguar, which 
in the New World is the most powerful of his enemies ; 
and a struggle between these two monsters would be a 
stirring spectacle to witness. The jaguar, knowing the 
vulnerable place, plunges his claws into the eyes of 
the reptile ; the latter dives, dragging down the jaguar, 
which, it is said, allows itself to be drowned rather 
than let go its hold. 

Crocodiles do not generally devour large animals 
until they have drowned them. " The noise they 
make in eating," says Livingstone, "when once heard, 
will never be forgotten." 

* " Poor little deer ! " says the hunter who was preparing to 
kill him ! Talk of crocodiles' tears after that ! 



246 CROCODILES AND CAYMANS. 

Their activity abates during the hottest hours of the 
day. They then retire amongst the reeds or extend 
themselves on the sand or in the mud. La Condamine 
reports that they have been seen sunning themselves 
on the banks of the Guayaquil and the Amazon for 
whole days. M. Tremaux, being in Ethiopia, above 
the cataract of Senadaoui, had the opportunity of 
examining at leisure a crocodile which was thus 
taking his siesta extended on the river-bank. " Pro- 
fiting by his immobility, I had approached him," he 
says, " under cover of a clump of trees. When my 
curiosity was satisfied, I walked straight up to the 
animal, which, without disturbing itself, slightly raised 
its great head and appeared scarcely to notice me. I 
was not a little surprised to see at the bottom of the 
slope in the bed of the river, and close to the ferocious 
beast, two donkeys feeding peaceably and quite undis- 
turbed by his proximity. The crocodile, which until 
that moment had seemed to me not larger than a man, 
then showed his real size by offering me a point of 
comparison : he was from eighteen to twenty feet long. 
Some minutes afterwards the enormous beast slowly 
glided into the water, lifting one leg after the other in 
a torpid manner; but no sooner had he reached his 
favourite element than, with a powerful stroke of his 
tail, he disappeared like a dart." 

It is, in fact, only in this element that they enjoy 



HABITS. 247 

the full liberty of movement ; but it has been more 
than once shown that, at least in certain seasons 
and in certain countries, crocodiles (although less 
active on the land than in the water) are still capa- 
ble of moving very quickly on level ground, but in 
a straight line only, for the short ribs of the neck 
touching each other prevent these animals from 
turning easily. Hence there is one chance of safety 
for those whom they pursue. This knowledge was 
made use of by an Englishman, who, having at his 
heels a monstrous crocodile, which had sprung from* 
the lake of Nicaragua, was nearly caught, when the 
Spaniards who were with him shouted to him to 
quit the direct path and to run in zigzag. He fol- 
lowed this counsel, and found it valuable. 

It rarely happens, according to Livingstone, that 
the crocodile comes out of the water to seek food. 
On one occasion, nevertheless, on the banks of the 
Zouga, he met with one which, although still small 
(about three feet long), made a dash at his feet, and 
compelled him to fly in another direction ; but the 
traveller adds, "this is unusual, for I never heard 
of a similar instance." 

These examples, however, are not rare elsewhere. 
The Count de Forbin, in his "Voyage a Siam," reports 
that the crocodiles sometimes come close up to the 
houses at Bancok. La Condamine tells us that 



248 CEOCODILES AND CAYMANS. 

the caymans of the Amazon enter the huts of the 
Indians ; and Lacepede reports, that in South America, 
when the lakes inhabited by caymans become dry, 
these animals, condemned thenceforward to a terres- 
trial life, live on game for months together. 

It is whilst the crocodile is on land that that 
extraordinary and charming scene, related by Hero- 
dotus, occurs, which has been treated as a fable by 
moderns, and which was only definitively assigned to 
science when Geoffroy Saint Hilaire witnessed it 
•during his residence in Egypt. 

Whilst the crocodile is going through the water, 
leeches pass into its gaping mouth, and when on 
land ants and gnats introduce themselves there. 
The shortness of its tongue leaves it powerless 
against these enemies. But a small bird, a plover 
(Charadrius JEgyptus), comes to its aid. The monster 
opens its mouth, the bird enters, picks the animal's 
teeth with its beak, cleanses the gums, palate, and 
tongue, and having performed its task departs. 

" The crocodile," says iElian, " profiting by this 
service, endures the operation with patience, and 
remains motionless, so that the plover finds a good 
meal in the leeches ; and the crocodile, rejoicing in 
its assistance, thinks that he recompenses it suffi- 
ciently in allowing it to depart in peace." 

In the Antilles another bird (the humming great 



HABITS. 249 

renders the same service to the crocodiles of that 
place as the plover to the common crocodile. 

Notwithstanding their voracity, crocodiles can re- 
main for several months without food. Brown, in his 
"Natural History of Jamaica," reports that he had 
satisfied himself on this point by tying up the 
muzzles of several of them with wire. 

Some species pass a part of the year in a lethargic 
sleep. The pike-muzzled cayman, which inhabits 
South America, and ascends the Mississippi and its 
affluents as far as the 32nd degree, buries itself in the 
mud as soon as cold weather comes, and passes the 
whole winter season in a state of torpor. The rising of 
the temperature in South America produces the same 
effect as its falling in North America. At Cayenne 
and Bahia, in the half-dry marshes, troops of caymans 
buried in the slime, their backs only visible, await 
in a lethargic state the return of the rains. Travellers 
say that some caymans dig holes on the margins of 
the marshes, into which they retire to sleep the long 
sleep. Pliny writes, that crocodiles pass the four 
months of winter in caverns. This was perhaps true 
of the crocodiles inhabiting the Delta ; now-a-days the 
Nile crocodiles do not become torpid. 

All crocodiles are oviparous. The female deposits 
her eggs, covered • with an elastic calcareous shell, in 
holes, which it digs on the banks of rivers. Living- 



250 CROCODILES AND CAYMANS. 

stone one day made his fire on one of these deserted 
nests, which was strewed all over with the broken 
shells. This nest was situated about six yards from 
the river Zouga, with which it communicated by a 
broad path. This traveller has seen sixty eggs taken 
from a single nest. The cayman a lunettes of 
Cayenne, and the common crocodile on the banks of 
the Nile, deposit a similar number of eggs; the latter 
lay in February, the others in April. The common 
crocodile confines itself to simply burying its eggs 
in the sand ; the cayman a lunettes deposits them 
between a double bed of leaves and straw. These 
eggs are about the same size as those of a goose. 

They do not sit on their eggs, although Pliny states 
the contrary, and pretends even that the male shares 
with the female the cares of incubation. Solar heat, 
and in certain cases that which results from the fer- 
mentation of vegetable matter massed round the eggs, 
suffices to bring them to perfection. The female of 
the common crocodile even abandons her eggs after 
she has buried them ; and at St. Domingo that of the 
taper-nosed crocodile does the same ; but the female 
of the cayman a lunettes (Guinea and Brazil) watches 
over hers. " She always remains," says M. de la Borde, 
" at a certain distance from her eggs, which she defends 
with fury, should any one attempt to touch them." 

The eggs of these reptiles have indeed great need 



HABITS. 251 

of protection, for they have many enemies. In Egypt 
the mangouste, in America apes, everywhere water- 
fowls, and in some places men destroy an immense 
number. Livingstone reports that the Barotses and 
the Bayeyes, tribes of Southern Africa, are very fond 
of crocodiles' eggs. " They eat the yolk, rejecting the 
white, which does not coagulate." 

" In proportion to the increase of the population," 
says this writer, "the nests of these odious reptiles will 
be more and more sought after, and the species will 
become less numerous." May it be so ! 

Lacepede writes, that in America the apes break 
a very large number of eggs, not merely to eat them, 
but in some measure apparently for the mere fun of 
the thing. 

Even with the species which abandon their eggs 
immediately after laying them the cares of maternity 
are not always confined to nidification. When instinct 
warns it that its eggs are about to be hatched, the 
female of the taper-nosed crocodile returns to its nest, 
unearths its brood, and conducts the young ones to 
the water. 

Lacepede denies this, but he is wrong ; the same 
facts occurred in the countries explored by Livingstone. 
The negroes even told the latter that the female aids 
its little ones in coming out of their shells — assistance 



252 CROCODILES AND CAYMANS. 

which, as we shall see, is exceeded by those of the 
Blue Nile. 

" It appeared to me," says Livingstone, " quite 
needful that their mother should come to their assist- 
ance at the time of their birth, for it is a question with 
them not merely of breaking the membrane with which 
the shell is lined, but also of digging them out of a bed 
covered with about four inches of earth." 

It is doubtless this last circumstance which neces- 
sitates the maternal intervention. 

The young go into the water at the instant of their 
birth. They feed on insects and larvae ; but voracious 
fishes make great destruction among them, and it is 
said that the little crocodiles are by no means safe 
amongst the large ones. During three months the 
female of the taper-nosed species nourishes and protects 
its young. 

Don Ramon Paez, in his " Travels and Adventures 
in South and Central America," says: "Despite their 
great voracity, the mother exhibits some degree of ten- 
derness towards her offspring. Possessed, in this case, 
of an instinct almost infallible, she returns at a period 
when incubation is completed, and assists her young in 
extricating themselves from the shell. Unlike the eggs 
of birds, crocodiles' eggs are soft and pliable as those 
of the turtle, yielding, when handled, to the pressure of 



HABITS. 253 

the fingers, yet so tough that it is difficult to break 
thern, and in appearance resembling white parchment. 
At the very moment of liberation the young crocodiles 
display their savage nature in a wonderful degree, 
biting at every object within reach ; the same vicious 
propensity is also exhibited by those extricated even 
before the completion of incubation. I was once 
greatly amused in watching a struggle between two 
caricaris and one of these youngsters, not larger than a 
good-sized lizard. Each time the birds made a dash 
at him, this little saurian, grunting savagely, darted 
forward with wide-open jaws, looking for all the world 
like a young dragon. During ten minutes the 
struggle continued without decided advantage on either 
side, when one of the assailants, changing his tactics, 
suddenly seized the crocodile by the neck with his 
sharp claws, and soared triumphantly with him into 
high air. There, loosing his hold, the bird followed 
his descent with wonderful rapidity, prepared, when he 
reached the ground, to repeat the blow ; but, already 
half stunned, the victim soon yielded to superior 
cunning." 

Catesby, in his " Natural History of Carolina," 
shows us young crocodiles seeking refuge against the 
voracity of their elder brethren in the thickest parts of 
the marshy forests. 



254 CROCODILES AHD CAYMANS. 

" These aquatic woods are filled with animals which 
eat each other ; half-devoured carcases are seen floating 
on the water." Lying in ambush on the banks of the 
lakes and rivers, the tiger in India and the jaguar in 
America watch the moment when the young saurians 
approach the shore, seize them with their powerful 
claws, and devour them. 

Livingstone relates, that on arriving one evening 
on the banks of the Libaye, he put to flight two 
broods of crocodiles ; they were about ten inches 
in length. Their bodies were marked with alternate 
brown and pale green bands ; their eyes were 
yellow. When speared, they bit the weapon savagely, 
yelping all the while like a whelp just beginning 
to bark. 

Added to the testimony of Caillaud, this last fact, 
reported by a traveller so trustworthy as Livingstone, 
would suffice to solve the controverted question as to 
whether crocodiles have a voice. Captain Jobson 
(" Hist. Gen. des Voy.") assures us that those of the 
river Gambia, called bumbos by the negroes, utter cries 
which appear to come out of a pit, and which can bo 
heard at a great distance. Catesby reports that the 
caymans of Carolina, on coming out of their lethargic 
slumber, make horrible roarings. Bosc, who has 
visited the same country, says that the caymans make 



HABITS. 255 

in the evening a frightful hubbub, and that he had 
frequent opportunities of hearing it. M. de Courdi- 
niere, in his " Observations sur le Crocodile de laLoui- 
siane," and M. dela Borde, in the notes already quoted, 
make analogous depositions. These testimonies can- 
not be weakened by the otherwise undeniable fact 
that, during a residence of many years on the banks 
of the Orinoco, Humboldt, although surrounded every 
night by crocodiles, never heard the voice of these 
animals. 

Herodotus has stated, with truth, that of all the 
animals which come out of an eg;g } the crocodile is of 
the largest dimensions. 

The common crocodile is generally from eighteen to 
twenty feet in length, but they have been seen nearly 
forty feet long; the size of the cayman a lunettes 
varies from twelve to fourteen feet, that of the taper- 
nosed cayman attains the same length. The great 
gavial of the Ganges is from twenty-five to thirty 
feet in leDgth, and is said sometimes to exceed forty 
feet. Their growth is very slow. Aristotle thought 
that it continued during the whole life of the animal. 
It is now thought that it continues for twenty 
years. Viscount de Fontange, Commandant of the 
island of St. Domingo, kept for twenty-six months 
some crocodiles which he had seen hatched. Their 



256 CROCODILES AND CAYMANS. 

length was not then more than twenty inches. It 
is asserted that crocodiles live for a hundred 
years. 

Now let us see the crocodile in his connection with 
man. On this important point authors show singular 
differences ; possibly we may succeed in bringing them 
into accord. 



CHAPTER XVIL 

€xotQb\U% .(continued). 

IV. — Touching the Ferocity of Crocodiles. 

Dampier assumes that caymans never attack man, and 
that they never make victims, except amongst those 
who provoke and irritate them. It has frequently 
happened to him to drink in ponds filled with these 
animals, and although they were then close to him, 
they never attempted to injure him. 

M. de la Borde says, that in the neighbourhood of 
Cayenne, the negroes sometimes take caymans five or 
six feet long, tie their legs, and that the animals suffer 
themselves to be handled and carried without attempt- 
ing to bite. From excess of prudence, the jaws are 
sometimes tied up, or a large metal plate fixed in the 
mouth. It is better still in some of the rivers of 
St. Domingo. The pursued animal hides his head and 
a part of his body in a hole. A slip-knot is fixed to 
one of his hind feet, and many negroes, pulling at the 



258 CROCODILES. 

rope, draw him about, even into the houses, without 
his exhibiting any desire to defend himself. 

Bosc, a traveller in Carolina, agrees with Dampier ; 
he has been quite close to caymans without their 
making any attempt to bite him. 

Audubon goes farther, and says that these animals 
are so gentle, during the summer and autumn, that the 
people get on their backs and compel them to carry 
them. 

So much for caymans. ' Now let us turn to crocodiles. 
Corneille de Pengu, in his " Voyage aux Indes Orien- 
tals, " relates that a crocodile was taken sixteen feet and 
a half in length, and six feet and a half round, which 
had devoured thirty-two persons, and that on his body 
being opened, a human skeleton was found therein. 

Seba, who reproduced that story, regards it as 
impossible ; and he adds, that the crocodile, far from 
devouring man, holds him in such fear as to make 
his escape as soon as he sees or hears him. 

Bosman (" Histoire de la Guinee Orientale ") agrees 
with Seba. " They lie in the sun, on the banks of 
rivers, and the moment they perceive a man, they are 
so frightened that they precipitate themselves to the 
bottom of the water." Bosman has never heard of 
these animals attacking a man, or even a beast. 

Thunberg writes : " The presence of crocodiles does 
not prevent the natives of Batavia, as well as the 



THE FEROCITY OF CROCODILES. 259 

slaves of both sexes, from plunging pell-mell, once or 
twice a day, into the rivers or canals." 

Forbin relates that " the crocodiles sometimes come 
close up to the houses at Bancok, and as they are 
very timid, they are easily frightened off by shouting 
or firing a gun at them, when they immediately escape 
to the bottom of the water." 

The same kind of sport which Audubon describes 
with the caymans, is practised with the crocodiles on 
the river Senegambia, San t)omingo. According to 
M. de Brue (" Hist. Gen. des Voyages "), not only do 
the crocodiles of this river not injure any one, but even 
"the children can play with them, mount their backs, 
and beat them, without perceiving any signs of resent- 
ment." 

Pliny remarks, that the crocodile flies before those 
who pursue it, and that it permits itself to be guided 
by men bold enough to leap on its back. 

A contemporary traveller, Mr. Combes, writes : " The 
ferocity of the crocodile has been much exaggerated. 
I have never seen a boatman hesitate to leap into the 
water when it was necessary. At almost every turn 
of our route we saw them up to their waists in the 
water, endeavouring to disengage their heavily laden 
barges, which had got aground. And on all sides 
we saw children .coming to fill their pitchers, or to 
wash themselves, on the banks of the Nile." 

s 2 



260 CROCODILES. 

Let us not forget the gavial. His reputation was 
never better than that of caymans and crocodiles. 
Modern travellers have however undertaken to re-estab- 
lish his character. According to these travellers, the 
gavial never attempts to attack men or animals. 

We have heard witnesses for the defence: let us 
now listen to others. 

La Condamine reports that the crocodiles of the 
Amazon seize the Indians in their huts and in their 
canoes. 

In the Grambo, according to an old traveller, Jobson, 
the negroes are so suspicious of crocodiles, that they 
will not venture to swim or wade across rivers fre- 
quented by these animals. 

We read in the " Description de l'lle Celebes (Hist. 
Gen. des Voyages)," that the crocodiles of the great 
Macassar river do not confine themselves to making 
war upon the fish, but that they sometimes assemble 
in troops at the bottom of the water to await the 
passage of the small boats, which they stop, and using 
their tails as hooks, upset them, and then seize the 
men and animals and drag them into their retreat. 

Hasselquist ("Voy. en Palestine") writes, that in 
Upper Egypt, crocodiles very frequently devour the 
women who come to carry water from the Nile, and 
children playing on its banks. 

Geoffroy Saint Hilaire reports that it is by no 



THE FEROCITY OF CROCODILES. 261 

means rare to meet with Arabs in the Thebaide, some 
wanting an arm, and others a leg, which had been 
carried away by crocodiles. 

Listen to Livingstone : — " Every year many victims 
are made amongst the children who have the impru- 
dence to play on the banks of the Liambye, when 
they go for water. The crocodile stuns his prey with 
a blow of his tail, and drags it into the water, where 
it is soon drowned. 

"Fish is the principal food of both small and large, 
and they are much assisted in catching them by 
their broad scaly tails. Sometimes an alligator, 
viewing a man in the water from the opposite bank, 
rushes across the stream with wonderful agility, as 
is seen by the high ripple he makes on the surface, 
caused by his rapid motion at the bottom ; but in 
general they act by stealth, sinking underneath as 
soon as they see a man. A wounded antelope chased 
into any of the lagoons in the Barotse valley, or a 
man or dog going in for the purpose of bringing 
out a dead one, is almost sure to be seized, though 
the alligators may not appear on the surface. After 
dancing long in the moonlight night, young men run 
down to the water to wash off the dust, and cool 
themselves before going to bed, and are thus often 
carried away. One wonders they are not afraid; 
but the fact is, they have as little sense of danger 



262 CEOCODILES. 

impending over them as the hare has when not 
actually pursued by the hound ; and in many ren- 
contres, in which they escape, they had not time 
to be afraid, and only laugh at the circumstance 
afterwards : there is a want of calm reflection. In 
many cases not referred to in this book, I feel more 
horror now in thinking on dangers I have run, than 
I did at the time of their occurrence." 

He goes on to say, " I never could avoid shudder- 
ing on seeing my men swimming across these 
branches, after one of them had been caught by the 
thigh and taken below ; he, however, retained his full 
presence of mind, and having a small square ragged- 
edged javelin with him when dragged to the bottom, 
gave the alligator a stab behind the shoulder. The 
alligator, writhing in pain, left him, and he came 
out with the deep marks of the reptile's teeth on 
his thigh." 

We have seen that, according to Mr. Combes, 
the ferocity of the crocodile has been much exag- 
gerated, and he has shown us, in fact, the bargemen 
going into the water up to their middle, and children 
filling their pitchers on the banks of the Nile. 
" Nevertheless," he adds, " accidents are rare, and 
it is easy to understand that if the inhabitants of 
Egypt were not satisfied by long experience, they 
would not show themselves so confiding." This 



THE FEROCITY OF CROCODILES. 263 

argument would appear to prove little after what 
Livingstone reports of the improvidence of the 
riverains of the Liambye ; and the following fact 
goes to show the same carelessness on the banks of 
the Nile, at the same time that it exhibits the croco- 
dile at his work: — 

M. Tremeaux was on the Nile, in the eastern 
Soudan, between Senaar and Lony. Several men 
were on the sand hauling the boat, when they 
came upon a hollow filled with water from the 
river; one of them took the cord in his mouth 
to swim across the hollow, whilst the rest went 
round the obstacle. " Suddenly I heard many 
voices shouting, * He is seized ! he is carried off ! ' 
One sailor cried out, ' The crocodile ! the croco- 
dile ! * a third, * A gun ! bring a gun ! ' Throwing 
aside the notes which I was writing, I seized a gun 
and hurried precipitately from the cabin. Looking 
to that point of the river to which all eyes were 
turned, I could only see a circle of undulations, 
like that which is caused when a body disappears 
beneath the water. All the haulers were shouting, 
gesticulating, and advancing cautiously into the water, 
each pressing against the other, no one daring to 
detach himself from the group. The doctor ex- 
ended his hand towards my gun. ' We must make 
a noise — fire!* said he. I gave him the gun, and 



284 CROCODILES. 

seizing a pistol which I had at my "belt, we fired. 
An instant afterwards the man reappeared on the 
surface of the water, half suffocated, gesticulating 
painfully, and exhibiting signs of frightful anguish. 
The wretch was but a few yards in front of the 
haulers, but not one of them dared to advance to 
his assistance. The doctor again fired a shot at 
hazard into the water, to drive away the monster. 
During this time the boat was rowed quickly towards 
the poor fellow, and we threw him the end of the 
cord, which he was still able to seize, and by its 
aid we drew him on board — one of his legs was 
crunched ! 

" The monstrous amphibian, deceived by the float- 
ing ferclah of the man, had, it appeared, first seized 
him by the foot, which he raised up, then seizing 
him a second time by the leg, above the knee, he 
dragged him underneath the water. It was then 
that the crocodile — who is as cowardly as he is 
ferocious — frightened by the detonations of the fire- 
arms, and by the shouting of the men, had let go 
his prey. 

" The wound was considerable ; the articulation of 
the knee was crushed ; the flesh of the thick part of 
the leg ripped open for a great length, exposing to 
Bight the naked bone. The teeth of the monster had 
left deep marks. From the foot to the middle of the 



THE FEROCITY OF CROCODILES. 265 

thigh we counted seven or eight on each side, each 
of which was sufficiently open to receive three fingers. 
Others were united by the same rent. A single blow 
of the powerful jaws of the crocodile appeared to have 
produced all these wounds." 

The poor fellow was carried to land, and remained 
extended on the sand in the sun, whilst a man went 
to the neighbouring village in search of some means 
of transport. Far from complaining, "It was writ- 
ten ! " he said, and he thanked God fur having saved 
his life. The boat continued its voyage. 

Near there the traveller saw in the sand the remains 
of a crocodile killed by the natives, who were re- 
proaching it as the cause of the death of many of 
their friends. 

For many hours crocodiles were the subject of 
conversation of all on board. " Some of our men, who 
were from Khartoum, stated that the approaches to 
that city had for some time past become very dangerous, 
and that many people had perished there. The croco- 
diles wander near the places where the people come 
to draw water, and if an isolated person advances too 
far into the river, in order to get purer water, he runs 
very great risk." 

Among other stories, one is related which is not 
without analogy with that of the crocodile whose fero- 
city Seba denied the existence of entirely. Here it is. 



266 CKOCODILES. 

" Quite recently a fine tall woman, knowing that the 
principal victims of the carnivorous monster of the 
Nile were women and children, thought probably to 
awe him by her fine and imposing deportment. She 
walked into the water up to her waist, and there, whilst 
filling her leathern bottle with the limpid water, she 
was suddenly upset by a blow from the tail of a 
crocodile and carried away immediately. 

" This event brought a great number of the curious 
to the banks of the river, and some time afterwards 
there was seen floating on the water a monstrous 
crocodile, with a stomach so enormous as to prevent 
it remaining constantly under the water. Then boats 
were got together, and they attacked it. The crocodile, 
in that state, being anything but active, plunged, then 
soon reappeared on the surface, and as the river was 
now studded with boats, those who were within reach 
planted their lances between the openings of his scaly 
armour. He was soon killed, and they dragged him 
ashore, and quickly opened him. The animal, by 
means of his great mouth, which opened to the 
shoulders, had swallowed his prey whole, and, added 
the narrators, the victim of this monster had only a 
few bruises — her wounds were so trifling, that she 
must have died of suffocation in the crocodile's belly. 
They hoped even to see her come to life again. 
With the exception of some of the details," adds 



THE FEROCITY OP CROCODILES. 267 

M. Tremeaux, "the foundation of this story seemed 
to me to be true, for not only was it confirmed by 
many persons on our boat, but I heard it related in 
terms almost identical during our last residence at 
Khartoum." 

During that residence the author witnessed another 
catastrophe, which he reports in the following 
terms : — 

"From the window of the house where we were 
installed, on the quay, I was occupied in observing 
the movement of the animated scene in the harbour. 
A little negro, twelve years of age, had been bought at 
Kacane by our maitre d 'hotel. This young boy was 
standing on the edge of our boat. A kind of hand- 
kerchief of coloured cotton had just been given to 
him by his master. Delighted with such a treasure, 
after examining it minutely, the child shook it in 
the air. This movement, which attracted my attention, 
awoke probably also that of a crocodile, for the little 
gargon having let fall his handkerchief into the water, 
immediately jumped in to regain it, and never 
reappeared. The water was suddenly agitated, then 
a series of undulations, which could be seen towards 
the middle of the river, were for me the only percep- 
tible traces of his being carried away by the crocodile. 
The sailors who were on the boat, said that they had 



268 CEOCODILES. 

seen the animal near there, and they recognized on the 
other shore, where he had gone at once, the agitation 
produced hy his efforts in swallowing his prey." 

I must remark, nevertheless, that crocodiles are 
said not to he ahle to swallow in the water, and it 
is so stated hy Mr. Milne Edwards in his " Elements 
of Zoology." 

M. Tremeaux relates still, as an eye-witness, an 
accident which was comic, but which might easily 
have turned out serious. 

" It was near Chendy, on our return. One of the 
Russians, a servant of Colonel Kovalwski, was sitting 
on a bank by the river, his legs dangling in the water ; 
he was engaged in washing his feet. All at once 
he was seen cutting a caper backwards, as if he had 
been suddenly hurled by a powerful shock. He had 
described a complete somersault, and found himself 
sitting on the ground pretty far back. The crocodile 
had prowled up cunningly, and by slow movements, 
in front of him. On suddenly perceiving him, the man 
had not had time to retire. A powerful blow with 
his tail, by which the monster had endeavoured 
to throw him into the water, succeeded only in causing 
him to describe the pirouette we saw." 

Let us now return to Mr. Combes, according to whom 
the ferocity of the crocodile has been much exagge- 



THE FEROCITY OF CROCODILES. 269 

rated. This opinion appears to agree badly with the 
sentiments he expresses in the interesting story we 
are about to quote. 

It was in the desert of Wady Haifa (Lower 
Nubia). Our traveller was proceeding to Dongolah. 
It was near the end of the month Eamadan. In 
the caravan was a Turkish merchant, who wished 
to procure a sheep, or at least a goat, at any 
price, which he would have carried on one of his 
camels, in order to offer it up as a sacrifice at the 
moment when the crescent should shine forth in the 
skies. "But," says Mr. Combes, "we were then on 
the desert side of the Nile, and it would have been 
necessary to cross over to the opposite shore to find 
any living animals. 

" The Turk went up and down the river, in the 
hope of discovering some rafts; he shouted to the 
inhabitants on the opposite shore, but his searching 
and his cries were vain. He then resorted to the 
camel-drivers, and promised them a recompense if 
they would consent to swim across the Nile, and 
endeavour to bring back a sheep with them. Sobriety 
is a necessary virtue in the desert, but it was a 
question of celebrating a feast, and our conductors, 
like zealous Mussulmans, could not have been better 
pleased than to.be able to comply with the wishes 
of the pious traveller. Unhappily, crocodiles were 



270 CROCODILES. 

numerous in those parts, and in throwing themselves 
into the river, they would run great risk of being 
devoured by these terrible animals. This was re- 
marked to the Turkish merchant, but he, far from 
being touched by so grave a consideration, proposed 
a still higher reward, sufficient to tempt the cupidity 
of the camel-drivers. In spite of the danger which 
menaced him, one of them, the oldest, suffered him- 
self to be seduced. He took off his clothes and 
leaped into the Nile, uttering loud shouts. He was 
not yet two lengths from the shore, when, towards 
the middle of the river, a monstrous crocodile 
elevated his hideous head above the water, and then 
plunged almost immediately. The swimmer had not 
perceived the animal, but the apparition had not 
escaped the anxious looks of the other camel-drivers 
standing upon the shore. These hastened to call 
to their companion, signalling the imminence of his 
danger. We were all in a state of the most cruel 
anxiety, fearing at each instant to see the rash 
fellow become the prey of the formidable amphibian. 
But, thank God ! it was not so ; at the first warning 
of the camel-drivers the swimmer turned round, and 
it was with the most vivid satisfaction that I saw 
him regain the shore, and he was not slow in 
securing his safety. He was received jeeringly by 
the merchant, who perhaps regretted the horrible 



THE FEROCITY OF CROCODILES. 271 

spectacle which the appearance of the monster 
seemed to promise us ; but, except the merchant, all 
congratulated the Nubian in having escaped so great 
a peril. The crocodile reappeared several times on 
the surface of the river, and allowed himself to float 
down with the current." 

Later, at Khartoum, Mr. Combes was witness of 
facts which served to convince him that the fears he 
experienced under the circumstances we are going to 
relate were by no means without cause ; but how 
can one reconcile these facts with the opinions ex- 
pressed by him on the nature of the crocodile? 

"I was walking," says he, "on the banks of the 
Blue Nile, whilst many persons were bathing in the 
river. I was astonished at their imprudence, but the 
swimmers, assured by their number and the noise 
which they made, did not seem to experience the 
least disquietude ; nevertheless, at the moment when 
they least expected it, I heard a great cry, and a man 
disappeared. The other swimmers, seized with fright, 
regained the shore with precipitation, and threw into 
the river whatever they could put their hands on, 
redoubling their clamour. We were in a state of mortal 
anxiety, seeking on all sides traces of the man who 
had disappeared. On looking attentively, we discovered 
a slight furrowi which cut the river crosswise, and 
after a moment of cruel suspense, we saw an immense 



272 CROCODILES. 

crocodile emerge on the opposite shore, holding in 
his blood-stained month the unfortunate swimmer, 
who no longer exhibited any sign of life. At this 
sight the companions of the victim uttered terrible 
cries, in the hope of compelling the monster to 
abandon his prey ; but the crocodile squatted down on 
the desert shore, and, scarcely sensible of this tumult, 
was grinding between his teeth the body extended 
before him. Some guns had been hastily procured, 
which were discharged at the ferocious beast ; and 
whether they had any effect, or the monster, frightened 
by this brisk detonation, wished to shelter himself 
from a new attack, he plunged into the river, carrying 
with him the remains of his victim in the presence 
of a numerous crowd, which had run together from 
all parts, and which followed in breathless consterna- 
tion the different phases of this exciting and terrible 
drama. We remained still for some time on the 
banks of the river, but the crocodile did not reappear, 
and we retired in silence." 

We have already seen Mr. Combes* argument against 
the ferocity of the crocodile, in the facts he mentions 
of the sailors not fearing to go into the Nile, and the 
women and children taking water and washing therein. 
What shall we think of this argument when we shall 
presently see our traveller himself, his mind still 
filled with the catastrophe which we have just related, 



THE FEROCITY OF CROCODILES. 273 

going into the Nile for the pleasure of swimming? 
He says : — 

" Some days after this cruel event, I myself bathed 
in the Nile, with the doctor of Khartoum, his slaves, 
and some Turks who had joined us. We had chosen 
a safe place, or at all events one so reputed, and in 
which it was asserted crocodiles had never shown 
themselves ; besides, we had sufficient prudence not 
to go far into the river, in order, on the least alarm, 
to regain the shore promptly ; and, notwithstanding 
the assurances which had been given us, the slaves 
threw stones all round us, and kept up a continual 
noise, to avert all danger. "We had hoped, thanks to 
these precautions, that we were safe from any surprise : 
unhappily, it was not so. One of our companions, 
having had the temerity to advance into the middle 
of the stream, was seized by a crocodile, at the very 
moment when he was swimming towards us to regain 
the shore. He immediately uttered a heartrending 
cry, extending his arms in every direction. Notwith- 
standing the peril which menaced us, we rushed 
towards him just in time to seize hold of him, and 
to contend with the monster, which was just on the 
point of dragging him under. A severe struggle 
ensued, and we thought for an instant that we had 
come off with a -brilliant victory. We had brought 
our companion fainting to the shore, but a trail of 

T 



274 CROCODILES. 

blood which he left behind him began to frighten 
us, and after having got him quite out of the water, we 
were thunderstruck to perceive that the crocodile had 
smashed his thigh, and had very nearly succeeded in 
severing that member from the trunk. The doctor 
sent his black slaves to the hospital, from which they 
soon returned with a hand-barrow, on which the 
wounded man, still in a swoon, was placed. We had 
him transported to his dwelling, whither we followed 
him, overwhelmed with sorrow. Notwithstanding the 
most attentive care, the poor fellow died three days 
afterwards, a prey to the most poignant suffering." 

I have done, as they say at the court, the cause 
is heard. Enough has been said to form an opinion 
on the crocodilian family. Before concluding, how- 
ever, one last fact remains to be established, which 
will be the object of the following chapter. 



V. — On the Possibility op Educating Crocodiles. 

The crocodiles brought up in the temples of Egypt 
allowed themselves to be approached and handled. 
They were adorned with bracelets and ear-pendants, 
and, thus decked off, they discreetly took their place in 
the religious ceremonies. The abundant nourishment 



THE POSSIBILITY OF EDUCATING CROCODILES. 275 

which they received as divinities explains this man- 
suetude and familiarity. They willingly permitted 
those to open their teeth whose intention they knew 
was to fill their mouths. 

Aristotle says that the want of food alone renders 
crocodiles very dangerous ; and what he has said of 
crocodiles is true of the whole crocodilian race ; there 
is nothing ferocious in them but their appetite. For 
the rest, except man, I know of no animal (I am 
speaking of the superior animals, about which we know 
a little) that sheds blood merely for the pleasure of 
shedding it ; and the tiger himself, in spite of his 
wicked reputation, is no exception to this rule. 

Aristotle says again, that it is an easy matter to 
tame crocodiles, and to do that it is only necessary to 
feed them well. Nothing can be more true, and it is 
equally true of all members of the family we are dis- 
cussing. We have a report in the " Histoire General© 
des Voyages " (the responsibility for the truth of which 
we leave to that work), that on the shores of the Pdo 
San Domingo, in Africa, crocodiles are such kind 
creatures that the children, who are there badly off for 
toys, use the backs of these saurians instead of the 
wooden horse, which is not known in that country. 
This playful humour on the part of the crocodiles is to 
be attributed to 'the fact that, owing to their generous 
nourishment by their fellow-citizens the negroes, they 

t 2 



276 CROCODILES. 

have yet to learn what is meant by pinching the 
stomach. 

There was at Pompeii, in the Temple of Isis, a paint- 
ing showing an analogous scene to this which is every 
day enacted on the hanks of the San Domingo. Chil- 
dren are there represented playing with crocodiles. 
Doubtless it was wished to symbolize the confidence 
felt in these animals, which, being the objects of 
worship, found a table always ready served for them 
in the temples. Imperial Rome saw crocodiles led 
within its walls by inhabitants of Tentyre (modern 
Denderah), playing innocently with their guardians. 

In some of the primitive countries visited by Cook, 
tame crocodiles lived in the family with their savage 
masters. M. de la Borde reported to Lacepede that, at 
CayeDne, the caymans, fed from the superabundance of 
a good kitchen, carried their love of peace to such an 
extent as to leave in safety the turtles placed in the 
basin where they took their sports. It is said that, at 
Boutan, in the Moluccas (Spice Islands), they are used 
as domestic animals and fattened for the table, and 
that in proportion as they become plump, they become 
as inoffensive as poodles. At Seba, on the slave coast 
of Africa, the king of the place keeps in his gardens 
two tanks filled, not as they are in the basins of the 
Tuileries, with gold fish, but with crocodiles, — which 
is not so vulgar. 



THE POSSIBILITY OF EDUCATING CROCODILES. 277 

This negro king, although a barbarian, has the 
same tastes as some of these ancient • masters of the 
civilized world, whose fortunes were founded by the 
great man that bore the name of Caesar ; he is likewise 
on an equal footing with the divine Heliogabalus, who 
also kept and fed crocodiles, confirming the adage, 
"birds of a feather flock together."* 

All this goes to prove that the crocodilians are not 
mere machines, that they can remember, and regulate 
themselves according to circumstances, and can show 
themselves very different at different times and at 
different places. 

But the change is never so great as to render un- 
recognizable the portrait, sufficiently true, which iElian 
has traced of the crocodilian species whilst painting 
only that of the crocodile. 

The Greek author thus expresses himself : — " The 
crocodile, naturally timid, wicked, knavish, and very 
cunning, displays much quickness and subtlety 
whether it be in carrying off a prey, or in laying a 

* Scaurus, the edile, was the first Roman who exhibited cro- 
codiles to the people. He showed five. This magnificence was 
far surpassed afterwards by Augustus, Antoninus, and by the 
above-named brilliant Emperor. Clement Augustus carried 
the luxury so far as to bring together into the circus of Flami- 
nius, expressly filled with water, no less than thirty- six crocodiles, 
on which he let loose a proper number of combatants — unless it 
were better to say the crocodiles were let loose upon the men. 



278 CROCODILES. 

snare for it. He trembles at every noise, but be fears, 
above all, tbe loud sbouts of man. In spite of his 
strength, a bold attack strikes him with terror, &c. 

This granted, if we add, or rather if we recollect, 
that the water is the true element of the crocodile, we 
shall have, I think, all that is needful to bring into 
accord the apparently contradictory statements of the 
travellers and naturalists whose opinions have been 
reported in the preceding chapter. 



VI. — All are Agreed. 

First of all, we must put the gavial aside altogether. 
It appears certain that he has been defamed by those 
who have made a cannibal of him. It is sufficient to 
see his slender snout to be convinced that he could 
never take such a prey as man. All modern travellers 
are in opposition to their predecessors on this point, 
and assure us that they respect man, and have a like 
regard for large animals. But, in acquitting the gavial, 
they charge the crocodile. This is the one which is 
the author of the misdeeds attributed to the gavial. 

JElian had already remarked that in the Ganges there 
are two kinds of crocodiles, the one gentle and innocent, 
the other cruel. This remark is correct. The inno- 
cent crocodiles are the gavials ; the cruel belong to one 
or other of two species, one of which is the crocodile 



ALL ARE AGREED. 279 

a deux aretes, the other the crocodile of the marshes, 
both of which inhabit the Ganges. 

The gavials being dismissed, a word on the cay- 
mans. Undoubtedly these cannot be absolutely ac- 
quitted ; but it has, nevertheless, been agreed to regard 
them as much less dangerous than the crocodiles. 

The latter have now principally to be considered. 
Let us pass on, then, to the crocodiles. 

Let us remark, in the first place, that there are 
several kinds of them. We should be certainly de- 
ceived were we to extend to the entire race observa- 
tions made on such and such a species. There are 
degrees in everything. One species might be very dan- 
gerous to man, and another only slightly. Geoffroy 
Saint Hilaire thought that there were two species of 
crocodiles in the Nile — the Vulgaris and the Suchus ; 
and that opinion, after having been contested by 
naturalists, has now been adopted by them. Now, 
according to Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, the Suchus has 
a much more friendly disposition than the common 
crocodile. Travellers who blacken the characters of 
the crocodiles of the great river of Macassar, and the 
Sieur de Brue, who paint couleur de rose those of the 
Rio San Domingo, make no pretence of describing the 
whole genus. The .first, on the contrary, states that 
" crocodiles are more dangerous in the Macassar river 
*han ir the other great rivers of the East." 



280 CROCODILES. 

And the second writes : " We have ohserved with 
astonishment in the river of San Domingo, that the 
crocodiles,* or caymans, which are generally such 
terrible animals, are here quite harmless." And 
Livingstone, referring to those of the Liambye, 
remarks that "they commit more excesses than those 
of any other rivers." 

Before accusing travellers of contradicting each 
other on the subject of crocodiles, it is necessary to 
know if their descriptions apply to the same or to 
different species. But that is not all, and the most 
opposite statements might be equally correct, even 
when applied to individuals of the same species. We 
will go farther, and say even when applied to the same 
individual. 

One can conceive, in fact, that a traveller would 
form a totally different idea of a species according 
to whether he found himself in the neighbourhood of 
a crocodile famished or satiated. 

It is said that at certain times of the year the 
males of the taper-nosed crocodiles give themselves up 
to most desperate combats. I imagine that it would 
be more disadvantageous to encounter them at those 
periods than at others. And the same may be said 



* Crocodile is the proper term. America has the monopoly 
of caymans. 



ALL AEE AGKEED. 281 

of the female of that species, which takes such good 
care of her eggs, and watches her young with so much 
solicitude; she might exhibit quite a different dispo- 
sition when she has her progeny to nourish and pro- 
tect, than before she has known or after she has 
passed the cares of maternity. 

There is also a difference between encountering a 
crocodile on land and in the water ; still, no general 
rule can be established in either of these two cases. 

We have seen, in the statements of MM. Combes 
and Tremeaux, great crocodiles extended in the sun, 
on the banks of the Nile, gliding into the river on 
the approach of man. On the other hand, we 
must recall that young crocodile in the neigh- 
bourhood of the Liambye which put Livingstone 
to flight. Females leading their newly hatched 
young to the river, and the crocodiles which, in 
South America, the drying up of the lakes condemns 
for several months to lead the life of a terrestrial 
animal, might be more dangerous on land at those 
times than when they have only come to enjoy their 
siesta. Whence it follows that, according to species, 
place, and season, the man who finds himself on the 
path of a crocodile, out of his ordinary element, 
runs a variety of chances ; and it is the same if 
the encounter takes place in the water. 

After the accident which happened to the unfor- 



282 CROCODILES. 

tunate hauler who had his thigh broken, the sailors 
told M. Trerneaux that "the crocodile, when he is on 
land, never attacks man, and that he always flies 
at his approach to throw himself into the river, 
which is his favourite element." 

We have just seen that, if that is always true on 
the banks of the Nile, it is not invariably the same 
elsewhere. They added that, " even in that element 
(the water) he does not always attack man;" and 
that is correct. 

In fact, the crocodile can be rendered inoffensive 
by two methods, either by teaching him to fear man, 
or by teaching him to love him; if, indeed, the 
crocodile is susceptible of affection for any living 
being but those of his own family. 

But why not ? He knows how to appreciate the 
services which the plover renders him, and shows 
his recognition thereof in the crocodilian fashion, 
by not rendering evil for good. "Why should not 
repeated kindnesses inspire him with the same toler- 
ance towards man ? That it should be so with 
captive crocodiles is a thing neither doubtful nor 
extraordinary ; where the difficulty begins, we agree, 
is when it becomes a question of explaining by the 
same cause the presumed meekness of crocodiles en- 
joying the fall liberty of the waves. We have seen, 
nevertheless, that the traveller De Brue explains 



ALL ARE AGREED. 283 

the sweet temper of those of Eio San Domingo 
by "the care which the inhabitants take to feed 
them and treat them well." I confess that this 
explanation does not satisfy me, and that the inhabi- 
tants of the Bio appear to me to turn in a vicious 
circle. It seems that the feeding and care which 
they lavish on the crocodile, by tending to the 
multiplication of the species, would have as its result 
to give birth to a number of empty, and there- 
fore dangerous, stomachs. For this reason, I 
regard as much safer the other method, which 
consists in inspiring the crocodile with a wholesome 
terror. Its very nature suggests this treatment, 
and the effect is unfailing. This great animal 
is by no means courageous in proportion to its 
size. 

iElian says that it dreads the loud shouts of man. 
Of this we have had more than one proof in the 
anecdotes already reported. 

After mentioning the accident to the hauler, M. 
Tremeaux adds : " Our men continued, nevertheless, 
to throw themselves into the water, when the neces- 
sity arose, as if nothing had happened ; to our 
observations they replied that there was no danger 
so long as they kept close to the boats, or when 
men remained .in groups in the water," That is 



284 CROCODILES. 

to say, there is no danger when the waters are 
splashed and a noise is made. This is explained 
by the cowardice of the crocodile, which by no 
means invalidates the fact of its voracity. 

If gunshots, shouts, and stones cast into the water 
can intimidate the crocodile, put him to flight, and 
make him abandon the prey which he has already 
seized, surely a serious war made upon him would have 
the effect of curing him of his desire for mischief. 

The Tentyrites arrived at this result. " The 
hunters," says iElian, " make such a furious war 
upon them, that the river, cleared of this brigand, 
flows through the country in profound peace ; and 
the riverains trust themselves with safety to swim 
in its waters, and much enjoy the exercise." 

In lieu of cramming the crocodiles, as the people of 
San Domingo do, or hunting them like the Tentyrites, 
man sometimes carries his folly even to the extent 
of regarding crocodiles as gods, and esteems himself 
honoured in being swallowed by them ; and these beasts 
will never refuse to accord him that distinction. At 
Ombros, Coptos, and Arsinoe, where this superstition 
flourished, "one could not with any comfort wash one's 
feet in the river, draw water, or even walk on the 
banks, without being always on the look-out." 

Wherever man has neglected, or has not had occa- 



ALL AKE AGREED. 285 

sion to make his power felt, the crocodile has made 
frequent victims ; and La Condamine thinks that the 
boldness of those of the Amazon arises from their 
being so little hunted. 

There is still another and last distinction to he 
made between crocodiles, viz., those which have already 
eaten a man, and those which are not yet ac- 
quainted with his flavour. Those which have once 
eaten a man form a taste that way, and become 
excessively dangerous. The misfortune and shame of 
our race is, that in many places men devote themselves 
to giving to the crocodile an appetite for man. 

It was told M. Tremeaux that, in certain places 
inhabited by crocodiles, accidents never happened. 
But if the monstrous amphibian, by any chance, has 
tasted human flesh, the place from that time becomes 
dangerous ; for not only has this animal acquired the 
taste, and lies in wait for his prey, but sometimes 
others share it with him, and thus become terrible 
to man. Thus it is always by the same animal or at 
most by two or three that certain spots of the river 
are rendered formidable. 

Mr. Combes, having reported the sad events of which 
he had been witness, adds, "An inhabitant of Khar- 
toum, whom I had asked if such accidents frequently 
occurred, assured me that before the arrival of the 



286 CROCODILES. 

Egyptian troops, that is to say, before the horrors 
committed by the defterdah* the crocodiles showed 
but little taste for human flesh, but since the drown- 
ings ordered by Mehemet Bey, said the man whom 
I interrogated, since the Nile has borne the corpses 
of my brethren, the monsters which inhabit it have 
become accustomed to a substantial food, which they 
scarcely knew before, and now we are exposed to 
imminent danger from swimming in the river, or even 
from bathing on its shores." 

This defterdah, or governor of Soudan, more fero- 
cious, says Mr. Combes, than the tigers and lions with 
which he loved to surround himself, made sport of 
the lives of his fellow-men. To cut off the ears of the 
conquered, and to burn out their eyes with a red-hot 
iron, were his recreations. Empalement was in con- 
stant operation, and the negroes were thrown to the 
crocodiles in the Nile. There was only wanting to this 
atrocious man the means of exercising his power on 
a wider field to have nothing to envy in the celebrity 
of the most famous successors of Caesar. Mehemet AH 
recalled him at last, but the crocodiles had formed 
habits which they could not lose in a day, and which, 



* Mehemet Bey is here referred to ; he had been governor of 
the Soudan some time before the journey of Mr. Combes. 



ALL ARE AGREED. 287 

thanks to the jcllabs, or slave-merchants, they have 
probably preserved to the present day. A propos of 
this is one of the scenes related by the traveller wo 
are going to quote. It was in Upper Nubia. Mr. 
Combes, coming from Khartoum and descending the 
Nile, had taken his place on board a boat chartered 
by some jellabs, the cargo being chiefly composed of 
slaves. Let the witness relate these horrors : — 

" A great misfortune had just fallen upon the slaves, 
already wretched enough ; small-pox had broken out on 
board, and each day made some victims. We were 
always crowded one upon another, and in this cruel 
position the malady spread with fearful rapidity. The 
jellabs, powerless to arrest the progress of the plague, 
were compelled to appear resigned, and every time that 
death snatched from them a slave, they threw him into 
the Nile, repeating sententiously the words ' Miss 
Allah/ 9 — It is the will of God. The sick expired and 
became cold in the midst of their terrified companions ; 
their masters, under the rule of the most senseless 
fatalism, made no effort to overcome the terrible effects 
of the contagion. They stopped less frequently than 
usual ; the dying rested their heads on the knees of those 
who were yet in good health, and these unfortunates, 
who were being suffocated by the fever, and who required 
to breathe free and pure air, passed the great part of the 
day, and even of the night, in the midst of deleterious 



288 CEOCODILES. 

miasmas and the most baneful exhalations. Their dead 
bodies, thrown into the Nile, served to feed the crocodiles, 
and these famished monsters followed our boat ready to 
seize the new prey, for which they had not long to 
wait." This, however, is nothing to what follows : — 

" The disease had thrived vigorously for many days, 
and exhibited no signs of dying out. The jellabs, 
whose disheartening impassibility had already revolted 
me, now sometimes showed their ferocity. When the 
sick were in a desperate state, they did not wait for 
their last breath, but threw them into the river, where 
the crocodiles devoured them alive. One cannot form 
an idea of the sombre grief of the slaves at sight of 
such horrors. I was myself a prey to inexpressible 
agitation ; and, overcome by my indignation, I loaded 
the merchants with reproaches, which did not appear 
to have any effect on them. In their cold-blooded bar- 
barity they could not comprehend my anger ; and 
when I threatened to denounce their unworthy conduct 
to the local authorities, they replied carelessly, that 
they were doubtless at liberty to do as they liked with 
their own property." 

After such abominations, one sees the need that the 
rights of humanity should be protected with an ener- 
getic hand. 

Mr. Combes had a black servant named Hassan, a 
very good fellow, but unable to comprehend the gene- 



ALL ARE AGREED. 289 

rous fits of anger of his master. "All Europeans," 
he said to me one clay, just after I had been reprimand- 
ing the jellabs (who never bore me any malice), "take 
a lively interest in the slaves. Some years ago I was 
in the service of an Englishman who was visiting the 
antiquities of Egypt and of the country of the Bara- 
brahs. Between the first and second cataract we met 
a boat laden with slaves, whom the small-pox was deci- 
mating, as in this instance. The English traveller 
wished to see them more closely, and he offered a sum 
of money to the jellab to allow him to embark with 
him. The malady was making fearful ravages; the 
slaves were closely packed together, and no time was 
lost in throwing the dead bodies, still warm, into the 
river to make room for the living. The want of space 
contributed to augment the evil. Then w T hen they had 
satisfied themselves that a man was mortally attacked, 
he was got rid of at once. One case of this kind having 
presented itself a little time after the embarkation of 
my master, the sufferer was thrown into the river; and, 
doubtless roused by the coolness of the water, he uttered 
a feeble cry, extending his arms towards us, but he 
disappeared almost immediately. The Englishman, 
instead of remonstrating with the jellab, threw himsejf 
suddenly upon him, and pitched him, astoundeed as he 
was, into the Nile. This iellab w^as a powerful swim- 
mer, and he soon reappeared on the surface of the river 

u 



290 CROCODILES. 

and made for the boat ; but the traveller, far from being 
disconcerted, took up his double-barrelled gun, and told 
the swimmer that if he dared to approach he would 
blow his brains out, and send him to rejoin the wretched 
slave. The frightened merchant remained for a mo- 
ment undecided, and seeing the cool and determined 
air of the Englishman, he thought it prudent to gain 
the shore and to follow the boat on foot, in the hope 
that the terrible traveller would soon show himself 
more reasonable. He rejoined us at the station. The 
Englishman had grown calm, and returned into his 
own boat, which was made fast to that of the jellab. 
He pretended not to pay any attention to the arrival of 
the merchant ; but on the following clay, when he was 
on the point of starting, he went into his boat, and told 
him that he was going to sail alongside of him until 
they reached Cairo, and that if he did not treat his 
slaves with more humanity he should take upon himself 
to revenge them. We set sail the same time as the 
jellab, and followed him up to Cairo. In spite of the 
irritation and anger of their master, the slaves enjoyed 
some repose, and, thanks to the rough but energetic 
intervention of the English traveller, none but dead 
bodies were afterwards thrown to the crocodiles." 

Enough of this : let us now see man in his character 
as the destroyer of monsters. 



CROCODILES. 291 

VII. 

Notwithstanding his thick and hard covering, the 
crocodile is not invulnerable; that armour has its 
defects ; the weak points are the eyes, the throat, the 
joints of the fore-legs, and the belly, and with a well- 
aimed shot the hunter can soon finish him. 

One of the three jellabs with whom Mr. Combes was 
travelling was an excellent shot, and with a common 
matchlock he had already brought down two pelicans, 
with which the slaves were regaling themselves. 
Nevertheless, he had several times exercised his skill 
in vain against the crocodiles dozing on the islands or 
floating on the stream ; his balls glided off the scales 
of the saurians almost without disturbing them. At 
length, a short distance above Carari, he was more 
fortunate. The wind, which the night before was 
contrary, had now fallen, and the Nile flowed gently 
towards the sea. " On the middle of its smooth surface 
we had seen," says Mr. Combes, " for some minutes an 
enormous crocodile rising at intervals above the water, 
his head constantly turned towards us, a i if he had 
been swimming backwards. The jellab who was posted 
in the prow of the boat watched him attentively, and 
after having followed and studied his movements, he 
aimed rapidly .at the moment he showed himself and 
fired : the animal made a somersault and disappeared 

u 2 



292 CROCODILES. 

under the waves, leaving large traces of blood on the 
water. Our boat, carried along by the current, soon 
passed the spot where the crocodile had been struck, 
and we discovered near the shore fresh traces of blood. 
The pilot turned the prow towards land, and after 
sailing for half an hour along the shore, we saw the 
monster extended on the bank and expiring. We 
landed immediately and hauled him on board." 

The negroes in the country watered by the Anengue 
hunt the crocodile vigorously, sometimes with the 
gun, but more frequently with a kind of harpoon : 
they aim near the joints of the fore-legs. 

It will be recollected, that when Du Chaillu entered 
this river the crocodiles were not in the least afraid. 
The traveller manoeuvred his boat so as to isolate 
the largest of the troop, and lodged a ball in his 
body in the place we have just indicated. The animal 
turned over heavily, and after beating the water for a 
few instants, he sank into the mud. The others turned 
their stupid eyes towards him for a moment, and 
then resumed their torpor. The hunter shot a second, 
which buried itself in the mud like the preceding. 
They did not take away either one or the other, as the 
men did not care to go to seek them in the black 
mud. 

Some days afterwards M. du Chaillu took part in 
a great crocodile hunt. They went in canoes of a 



CROCODILES. 293 

very singular construction, quite flat-bottomed, of very 
light draught, about fifty feet long, and not more than 
two broad. The oarsmen stand up and handle these 
boats very ably. Thus equipped, they went into the 
very midst of the crocodiles. Some were swimming, 
others basking in the sun on the mud-banks. They 
took no notice whatever of the boat. M. du Chaillu 
killed two, one eighteen feet long, the other twenty. 

There are in Egypt some people bold enough to 
swim underneath a crocodile, and stab him in the 
belly with a poniard ; and the negroes of the Senegal 
do the same. " One Lapot, of Fort St. Louis, 
amused himself in this way almost every day, and 
for a long time was very successful, as we read in the 
* Voyage of De Brue ; ' but he at length received such 
wounds in one of these combats, that had he not 
been assisted by his companions, he would have lost 
his life in the jaws of the monster." 

At other times, in the same country, the negroes 
surprise the crocodile in places where there is not 
sufficient water left for him to swim in, and attack 
him with a lance, the left arm being protected by a 
shield of ox-hide. They thrust the lance into the 
eyes and throat, placing the left arm in his mouth, 
preventing him from closing it, and holding it open 
until the animal is suffocated, or until he expires 
under their blows. 



294 CROCODILES. 

On land they kill them more easily still, as may be 
judged of by the following relation of Adanson : — 

" One of my negroes," he writes, " killed a crocodile 
seven feet long. He had found him asleep in some 
bushes at the foot of a tree, on the bank of a river; 
he approached him gently, not to wake him, and very 
adroitly stabbed him with a knife in the side of the 
neck, just below the bones of the head and ear, and 
pierced him almost through and through. The animal, 
wounded to death, drew himself up painfully and 
struck the negro's legs with his tail so violently, that 
it felled him to the earth. But this one, without 
loosing his hold, rose instantly, and in order to have 
nothing to fear from the wounded mouth of the 
animal, he enveloped it in a pair of cotton drawers, 
whilst his comrade held the tail. The negro then with- 
drew his knife and separated the head from the trunk." 

"In Egypt," says Lacepede, " they dig deep holes 
on the paths of this inordinate brute, which they cover 
over with the branches of trees. They are afterwards 
aroused by the cries of the crocodile, which, taking 
on its return to the river the same route which it had 
followed in wandering from its banks, passes over the 
pit, falls into it, and is at once beaten to death or 
taken in nets. Others attach one end of a strong cord 
to a tree ; on the other end they fix a hook and a lamb, 
whose cries attract the crocodile, which, in carrying 



CROCODILES. 295 

off the choice bait, swallows the hook also. The more 
he struggles the farther the hook penetrates the flesh. 
They follow all his movements, slackening the cord, 
and wait till he is dead to draw him up from the 
bottom of the water." 

This latter proceeding is the same as that which 
is employed by the negroes of Carolina, against the 
caymans, except that they attach the bait and the hook 
to a tree by an iron chain. 

The negroes of Florida join together to the number 
of ten or twelve, take a large stake, and seizing the 
moment when the saurian is on the land, they go in 
front of the beast, and force the stake into his mouth, 
after which it is not difficult to finish him. Thunberg 
also reports that the Javanese use baits for the purpose 
of taking him. " They attach a wooden hook to the 
end of a cord slightly twisted, and bait it with a piece 
of carrion. No sooner has the crocodile swallowed 
this bait, than he struggles uselessly to cut the cord. 
It gets between his teeth. Besides, the hook which 
he has in his throat prevents him from closing his 
mouth, and the hunters, well armed, soon put him to 
death." 

Lastly, the Siamese take the crocodile by two 
methods, which the Count de Forbin describes in these 
terms:—" For the first they take a live duck, and 
under it they attach a piece of wood about six inches 



296 CROCODILES. 

long, proportionately thick, and pointed at both ends. 
To this piece of wood they tie a fine but very strong 
cord, to which are attached pieces of bamboo, which 
serve for floats. They then put the duck in the middle 
of the river, and the bird, finding itself embarrassed by 
the piece of wood, struggles to get rid of it. The cro- 
codile seeing it, dives into the water, attempts to take 
it from below, and seizes instead the piece of wood, 
which sticks crosswise in its throat. As soon as they 
perceive that he is taken, which is seen by the shaking 
of the cord and the agitation of the bamboo, the signal 
is given, and the animal is drawn to the top of the 
water in spite of the efforts he makes to get free. 
When he appears, the fishermen dart their harpoons 
into him. These are a kind of dart, the iron point of 
which is shaped like an arrow, attached to a handle 
about five feet long. To the iron part, which is 
pierced in the socket, is attached a very fine cord, 
twisted round the stick, which detaches itself from the 
iron, and which, floating on the water, indicates the 
spot where the animal is. When they have planted a 
sufficient number of harpoons in his body, they drag 
him ashore and dispatch him with their hatchets. 

" There is a second method of taking them. These 
animals sometimes come close up to the dwellings. 
As they are very timid, there is an endeavour to prevent 
them by making a noise, either by shouting or firing 



CROCODILES. 297 

guns. The affrighted crocodile flies for safety towards the 
water. At once the river is covered with boats, which 
wait to see him come up to respire, for he cannot re- 
main below longer than half an hour without taking 
breath. As he rises he opens his great mouth, and 
then from all sides harpoons are launched at him. If he 
receives any in his mouth (and the Siamese are very 
adroit) he is taken. The handle of the harpoon which 
floats, serves as a signal. He who holds the cord 
knows when the animal quits the bottom, and wains 
the fishermen, who do not fail, the moment he re- 
appears, to launch more harpoons at him. When he 
has received a sufficient number to be dragged to land, 
they haul him in and cut him to pieces. This second 
mode of fishing is more amusing than the first." 



END OF GREAT HUNTS. 



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